KEYNOTE SPEECH & TREND FORUMS
KEYNOTE SPEECH
2 June (Tue), 13:00 - 14:00
“Environment”, “Space”, and the Ideal Workplace
Now that workers have more freedom than ever to choose how to work, the need to gather in the office is being called into question. The SUEP. duo, known for integrating natural environments into workspaces that appeal to workers’ senses, and Chikara Ohno, known for new office concepts based on careful analysis of empty space and interrelations, come together to contemplate what kind of workplaces cultivate creativity and unity. Their prior works might provide hints.
- Hirokazu Suemitsu
+ Yoko Suemitsu - Principal Architects, SUEP.
Researching the coexistence of environment and architecture. Their design method integrates natural conditions such as light, wind and vegetation. Specialised in planning that uses environmental simulations. Projects include workplaces with zero-energy buildings and greening. Present spaces that foster sensing and creativity.
- Chikara Ohno
- Director, sinato Inc.
Studies cities, architecture and interiors, integrating people flow, levels and spatial gradation into his architecture. Whether large-scale offices or local complexes rooted in their region, he seeks to envision how they will be used and how they will change, aiming for flexible structures.
TREND FORUMS
3 June (Wed), 11:00 - 12:00
※ This programme has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. (Updated: 28 May 2026)
Bridging the Gap:
Designing Workspaces That Reconnect the Individual and the Collective
Over the past 30 years, our ideas of how and where we work have changed in unprecedented ways. Even as the new, more individual age has transformed offices into playgrounds for personal fulfilment, the pandemic turned individuality into isolation. Today, people once again seek community, identity, and shared rituals at work. The lecture explores how the office of the future can provide stability, foster lifelong learning, spark creativity through encounters, and connect with local urban life.
- Martin HennManaging Director and Design Principal, HENN
- Studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart, Germany and at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Master’s degree in Architecture from the ETH in 2006, post-professional master of Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, New York in 2008. Worked for Zaha Hadid Architects in London and Asymptote Architecture in New York. Joined HENN in 2008, becoming a partner in 2012 and managing director in 2017. As Design Principal he leads the design studios in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Shanghai.
4 June (Thu), 11:00 - 12:00
WORK PANORAMA 2026 Human to Human, To Be One
In an era marked by rapid transformation across the economy, society, politics, and technology, Future Literacy, the ability to anticipate and adapt to change, is becoming a decisive factor for long-term progress and organizational growth. Drawing on insights from Vitra’s WORK PANORAMA, this lecture explores how human-centered collaboration must evolve in a time of profound change. Technology alone is not the answer. True progress depends on our ability to rethink the way we work together and to shape sustainable, resilient, and creativity-driven workplaces for the future.
- Raphael GielgenTrendscout Future of Work Life & Learn, Vitra
- He travels the world driven by a central question: how will the nature of knowledge work change over the next five to ten years? With boundless curiosity, he explores emerging trends across organizations, questioning established ways of thinking and examining how work, collaboration, and the workplace are being transformed.
