TRY ANGLE BASE

TRY ANGLE BASE is a public-private co-creation hub set in a section of about 240 square meters on the sixth floor of the First Annex of the Ehime Prefectural Government Office. It served as the base for TRY ANGLE EHIME, a digital transformation (DX) program the prefecture has pursued since fiscal 2022, and was also positioned as a "pilot model" for the full-scale co-creation hub to be developed with the rebuilding of the Second Annex. We joined the proposal competition to select a single operator for both building and running the facility, teaming up as a group of three companies, one responsible for operations and programming, another for the facility management and operation systems. Our role was the design and supervision of the facility itself.

Because a highly concrete proposal was required at the bidding stage, we had to put together, in a short time, a design that was attractive yet could be reliably realized within the budget. The greatest challenges were to let a wide variety of working styles, from solo work and casual meetings to events for several dozen people, coexist comfortably in a limited floor area, and to give concrete expression to the open, free atmosphere of TRY ANGLE EHIME, a program that embraces a wide range of fields.

First, we divided the whole along the long axis of the space into three zones: "meeting and focus," "open work," and "community and events." The program was structured around a gentle gradation from quiet, closed spaces to lively, open ones. At the "focus" end, each of the six meeting rooms was given its own color and character, while box seats with arched openings and single-person booths offer places to hole up and concentrate. Meanwhile, the boundary between the open work zone and the community zone is a movable glass screen, so the two can be used together as a lounge in everyday use, and separated for events to serve as a seminar space for 50 to 60 people. The exposed ceiling, with its structure and services left open, and glass partitions with black steel frames create a raw, open atmosphere hard to imagine within a prefectural government building.

At the center of the facility stands a huge table shaped like the prefecture of Ehime. Built up from layers of OSB, it undulates like a landscape: its low parts are benches, its middle parts desks, and its high parts bookshelves and planters. More than just a large table, this three-dimensional, multifunctional composition gives a focal point to a wide single room that could easily feel flat, while creating the scene of a free workplace where all kinds of people gather and interact. It was also meant to convey the shape of Ehime intuitively to visitors from outside the prefecture, sparking conversation and nurturing an attachment to the place. It is perhaps a rather too literal means of expression, but considering that the facility sits inside the prefectural government building and welcomes many users from outside Ehime, we think it was not a bad idea.

Since opening in January 2023, it has been used frequently by many people as TRY ANGLE EHIME has continued. We ourselves, as one of the companies selected for the program, have used it many times for study sessions and meetings. The results, lessons, and reflections gained here have been carried into the planning and operation of E:N BASE in the Second Annex, which has now taken over its role. Even within a building as formal as a prefectural government office, a unique place like this can be created with the enthusiasm and understanding of the responsible department and the ingenuity of the private partners. Having shown a concrete image of that must surely have had meaning for what came after.