A digital camera crew lately was given entry to Sigma’s new headquarters in Kanagawa, Japan which reveals a posh stuffed with zen-like areas and a “cellar” of lenses displayed like bottles of advantageous wine.
With its wide-open design idea, a stairwell encased library, and even a rooftop backyard, this pristine four-story constructing appears designed for sustaining the zen of its workers simply as a lot as for conducting the enterprise of images. Wealthy in historical past, and calming in its design, the brand new Sigma advanced has created an setting during which the corporate’s distinctive services could be developed whereas giving its workers an area to calm down whereas doing so.
As proven in a video from Gizmomo Freaks, noticed by L Rumors and DPReview, the very first room that guests will see when getting into the Sigma HQ is a library wrapped across the constructing’s central hub staircase. With 4 flights of stairs to wrap round, the library homes a group of over 4000 images books and collections, organized by age teams.
“That is the place I exploit most as an worker,” Sigma consultant says, machine translated. “When making a digital camera, everyone seems to be finding out laborious. For those who don’t know a lot about photograph collections, you gained’t be capable of make an excellent (product).”
The constructing additionally has conferencing rooms and assembly areas, designed for housing product bulletins, coaching periods, and shows, with chairs which have collapsible desktops very like a scholar, would have at college. There’s additionally a secondary stairwell, which is open and has further furnished areas for an worker to take a break and decompress, or for small teams to carry smaller sections within the consolation of a lounge or den-like house.
The design philosophy right here is open areas, to get rid of any sense of claustrophobia that might make an worker really feel like they’re trapped. Even the work and meeting rooms are vast open, with supervisor desks and workspaces illuminated by pure gentle streaming in from giant home windows that present the forest-rimmed location the place Sigma selected to construct. The colour theme can also be vast open with shiny white partitions and flooring, and evidently there aren’t any nook places of work to aspire to climb a company ladder. It’s meant to convey a way of a crew idea from the appears of it.
However what is maybe its most intriguing characteristic, is a basement lens cellar to showcase samples of each lens, digital camera, and filter designed and constructed by Sigma in its illustrious historical past, making this constructing simply as a lot a museum as nicely. The lens and digital camera assortment are mounted to acrylic stands that make them seem like floating within the air, and are bathed in gentle from LEDs streaming throughout. The truth is, that is the one room within the tour that’s intentionally darkened aside from the illumination of the gathering, in order that the attention is drawn to your complete historical past of Sigma’s efforts to create high-performance lenses and cameras.
Lastly, on the highest of the constructing is a rooftop backyard, which is once more meant to convey a way of serene calm for workers. With vegetation, greens, and even timber, the backyard supplies a pleasant overlooking view of the corporate grounds and even the close by mountains. There’s additionally an atrium, the place workers can stroll round on their breaks to get some recent air.
This spectacular advanced is often not out there to be visited by the general public, so this tour serves as one of many few methods photographers will be capable of take pleasure in what Sigma has created for its employees.
