NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT, this week officially unveiled its all new, hybrid-remote smart workspace in Sunnyvale, California.
Dubbed the NTT OneVision Center, "the facility is one of the first office buildings in Silicon Valley built for a post-pandemic vision of the workplace, with collaboration-focused spaces, state-of-the-art health monitoring capabilities, and new layouts," according to the company.
The building, currently accessible only to a limited number of employees, is now fully open. This decision was made in accordance with Santa Clara County official standards for reopening businesses across the region in light of ongoing COVID-19 guidelines.
NTT Global Sourcing, a wholly owned company within NTT Inc., diligently worked with local partners to bring the vision for this approximately 35,100 sq. ft. space to life. The building features an open space design with circulation routes as pathways for employees to move and connect easily between shared and individual working spaces.
Floorplan highlights include multiple casual and collaborative spaces, working pods, and offices for research staff; and the lobby and cafeteria areas will display living walls to help purify the air.
Design, sustainability and occupancy health considerations
The building's design, created by CBRE Design Hub Spain architects, supports a hybrid-remote working environment where a subset of company individuals can commute to work in a physical space, while others continue to work remotely.
The building is on track to become carbon negative with energy returned to the local municipality of Sunnyvale. NTT Research are the landlords with room for up to 10 group companies who will eventually share the space. The company is also in the process of working towards LEED certification.
As COVID-19 remains an ongoing concern, NTT noted there are protocols in place to ensure the health and safety of employees, tenants and visitors accessing the building.
This includes a wearable band that monitors and tracks the constant temperature of individuals working or visiting the space, and data is automatically shared with the local healthcare system and all in accordance with HIPAA guidelines. It will notify the wearer by text message if there are any changes in temperature that might indicate the need for a telehealth consultation as a precaution.
NTT Research said it will not gather any data related to the health monitoring of individuals using the space.
Additionally, all individuals entering the building will be required to wear masks over their nose, mouth and chin, according to Santa Clara County’s strict standards, and social-distancing floor markers are installed.
As the building is designed around a shared open-plan concept, employees will access individual lockers for personal belongings in a university campus-style approach with shared and individual working pods sanitized at the end of each working day.
“We moved to a fully remote work model a while ago, and this new building defines a future of work that is more flexible, digital, and purposeful for our employees,” said NTT Research VP of HR, Rae-Ellen Hamilton. “It’s also designed around our upgrading-reality ethos as a global company.”
Bright hopes for the future
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility was performed by NTT Research President and CEO, Kazuhiro Gomi, and the Mayor of Sunnyvale, Larry Klein. The Deputy Consul General of Japan in San Francisco, Keiichi Higuchi, and Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce CEO, Dawn Maher, also attended.
“Our mission is to Upgrade Reality in game-changing ways that improve lives and brighten our global future,” said NTT Research President and CEO, Kazuhiro Gomi, who added, “In the spirit of that mission, our goal with this new location is to create shared working space that redefines how we work. We have created an environment that fosters collaboration between our world-class researchers and NTT family companies while also harnessing the talent and great minds already working in the Silicon Valley area. I am honored to unveil this new smart and sustainable building that will help us promote positive change for humankind.”
NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup "to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind," the company said.
Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein extended a warm welcome to NTT. “This is a great day for NTT and for Sunnyvale; I commend them for opening during these trying times,” he said. “We are excited to welcome NTT to our business community and look forward to their future growth and success.”
Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the company's Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab; the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab; and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab.
NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion. In a company statement, the organization said it aims to "upgrade reality" in three areas:
- 1) Quantum information, neuroscience and photonics.
- 2) Cryptographic and information security.
- 3) Medical and health informatics.
Learn more at www.ntt-research.com.
