Pasona Group might be one of the largest staffing agencies in Japan, but it also has to have the most biodiversity in any corporate headquarters.
In the company's 215,000 square foot office building in downtown Tokyo business meetings mix with broccoli fields, seminar rooms double as growing spaces for salad greens, guests are greeted by a rice paddy, and workspaces are separated by fruit trees. The building uses 43,000 square feet for growing space (20 percent of the building) for 200 different species of vegetables, fruits, and rice.
But it's not just a novelty concept, all of the plants are maintained by Pasona's employees along with an agricultural specialist. And the food that's harvested is used in the building's cafeteria.
The hope, according to the architecture firm Kono Designs, isn't just to make the building look nice, but to create "a unique workplace environment that promotes worker's productivity, mental health, and social interaction and engages the wider community of Tokyo by showcasing the benefits and technology of urban agriculture."
Here's a look.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com
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