Panasonic Corporation, Loftwork Inc., and Cafe Company Inc. opened "100BANCHI" (3-27-1 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) in the New South Exit area of JR Shibuya Station on July 7th. Panasonic, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018, began planning this facility as an "experimental zone for enriching the world 100 years from now," establishing it as a base of operations. This new space has been established in Shibuya, an area undergoing active redevelopment projects.
"100BANCHI" spans three floors. The first floor houses "KITCHEN," a cafe space planned and operated by Cafe Company that explores new culinary experiences for the future (scheduled to open this fall). The second floor houses "GARAGE," a workspace for project members where various projects are simultaneously developed. The third floor houses "LOFT," a collaboration space for Panasonic to create its next 100th anniversary. At the opening ceremony on July 7th, representatives from the three companies gave an overview and tour of the facility, followed by presentations by 13 teams currently working on projects in the "GARAGE" on the second floor.
"GARAGE" provides an opportunity and space for project teams, primarily made up of young people under the age of 35 who were recruited through a public call, to receive support such as mentoring from mentors who are leaders in their respective fields. Furthermore, by having multiple projects with different team compositions and activities simultaneously run within the same workspace, the aim is for them to stimulate each other, generating new ideas and chemical reactions. Furthermore, "GARAGE" is also planning events such as prototype exhibitions and meetups as an attempt to develop projects through interaction with visitors.
One of the highlights of "100BANCHI" is the spatial design, designed and designed by Schemata Architects. In particular, the original lighting fixtures used in the "GARAGE" on the second floor, which allow the lighting and power outlet positions to be freely adjusted, are said to be an homage to the two-pronged socket developed by Konosuke Matsushita in the early days of the company's founding. The GARAGE Program accepts applications at any time, and with selection and support from mentors, participants will conduct experiments, output, and present results over a period of up to three months. In the future, the program will continue this cycle and actively seek applications in order to develop 100 projects.
