INSIGHTS

2024.06.10

Towards a social design based on "white infrastructure thinking" Vol. 01

What is the concept of "white infrastructure thinking"?

Towards a social design based on "white infrastructure thinking" TOP

What is "White Infrastructure Thinking"?

Mitsubishi Jisho Design Jisho Sekkei advocates "White Infrastructure Thinking" as a way of thinking for realizing a truly sustainable society - a society that can accept change and diversity and continue to evolve.

"White Infrastructure Thinking" is a concept that uses various methods to "give space redundancy, flexibility, and variability, and build a system that will sustain it," as a new "infrastructure" for the lifecycle of buildings and cities.

In order to realize a truly sustainable society, it is essential to solve various social issues that are rapidly becoming more complex. By taking a variety of approaches to these issues, we will broaden our activities beyond the scope of a traditional design office.

Here, we have established three policy elements:

  • Creating a flexible space that embraces diversity
  • <<Create a system for implementing a phased approach while cultivating and updating>>
  • "Fusing physical and digital"

By adopting these principles, we will be able to create a "flexible, changeable space with redundancy."
Here, we will take a comprehensive approach that not only incorporates the hard aspects, but also the soft aspects of system creation and data utilization, making them function as modern methods, and will use this to strengthen our efforts toward realizing a truly sustainable society.

A practical approach to "white infrastructure thinking"

Mitsubishi Jisho Design Sekkei was founded in 1890 as the Marunouchi Architecture Company with the aim of transforming Tokyo's Marunouchi area, which was once a vast expanse of grassland, into Japan's leading business district. Over the course of the company's 130-year history, the company has continuously passed down ideas that are now known as "commitments to sustainability" in the form of "continuing to grow the town" and "perspectives on the lives of the people who spend their time there."

In April 2022, Mitsubishi Jisho Design changed its English-language company name to Mitsubishi Jisho Design, reiterating its commitment to "designing" a wider range of solutions to social issues.

We have combined these ideas with three policy elements aimed at realizing a truly sustainable society and organized them into a practical approach called "White Infrastructure Thinking," which consists of three axes: hard infrastructure variability, soft infrastructure variability, and utilization of cutting-edge technology.

 

This approach makes it possible to build flexibility and variability into the various phases of the life cycle of a city or building, from the initial project launch and development stages through operation and further updates and improvements.
This will serve as a guideline for future design firms' efforts to improve flexibility throughout society.

Project example interpreted with "white infrastructure thinking" ① 3rd MINAMI AOYAMA

In addition to creating new work spaces that meet the needs of today's work styles, this project addresses the challenges inside and outside the building of making the environment and people's lifestyles more inclusive at the intersection of different types of communities. The composition goes beyond the logic of conventional office building design to create a place for the community where a variety of people can move around and stay both inside and outside the premises.

3rd MINAMI AOYAMA

Project example interpreted with "white infrastructure thinking" ② Slit Park YURAKUCHO

A diverse range of creators will be involved in constructing the hard and soft aspects beyond the boundaries of the building site and both indoors and outdoors, designing spaces that can accommodate a variety of ways of spending time and hosting events, and attracting visitors never seen in the area before. This project will bring a new form of diversity to the area, while also increasing its sustainability through management that involves users.

Slit Park YURAKUCHO

A practical approach to realizing a truly sustainable society

We are already working on a variety of approaches in a variety of projects every day, including examples such as "creating new urban spaces by gently connecting towns, architecture, and people" and "creating diversity and sustainability by involving a variety of parties" mentioned here.
We are also further expanding on the technological capabilities we have cultivated to date and making a wide range of proposals, such as a mobility concept that will enable greater freedom in the use of cities and the development of tools that will enable the use of data from users in urban development.

The accumulation of such practices will recycle the life cycle of cities and buildings in a better direction, and by spreading and linking this to other projects, it will solve larger contemporary social issues and lead to the realization of a truly sustainable society.
Mitsubishi Jisho Design is committed to designing a truly sustainable society based on "white infrastructure thinking."

In future posts, we will be introducing our "White Infrastructure Thinking" initiative by highlighting some specific projects.

Towards social design based on "white infrastructure thinking"

Update : 2024.06.10

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