“Who is TAKENAKA?”
We at TAKENAKA have heard this question again and again in the course of our activities in all our branches – and we still hear it today! Of course, you could answer TAKENAKA, that’s a general contractor, that’s architects, and engineers, a construction company with Japanese roots. All these answers are correct, but do they really reflect the spirit of us? And anyway, what is this “Tōryō spirit” we like to talk about?
In order to comprehensively answer these and many more questions, TAKENAKA Europe has set up a showroom at its branch in Düsseldorf, Germany, as part of its office expansion and redesign. Since 24 March 2021, visitors can embark on a journey to learn about TAKENAKA Corporation’s 400-year history and expansion into Europe, view our achievements, and learn more about our technical solutions in an exhibition space of approximately 50 m².
The exhibition tour offers visitors a holistic overview of TAKENAKA – as a group, and specifically TAKENAKA Europe. The tour starts with a map of Europe, on which all 13 branches are visually highlighted. The visitor is then introduced to the history panel, where he can learn about TAKENAKA’s milestones in Japan, Asia, and of course Europe. With over 400 years of history, tradition is important to us. From the very beginning, TAKENAKA has been building in the sense of “Tōryō”, meaning “master craftsman”. Behind this is our principle that TAKENAKA employees work as craftsmen for the building industry, but not as traders who are solely concerned with profit. This principle is passed on from generation to generation. In our showroom, it is expressed through traditional wooden construction tools, which were flown in from Japan especially for this exhibition.
In the next section, visitors can learn about our core competencies and current or recently completed projects through project displays. This is also the heart of the exhibition: we have installed a table in the middle of the room, which uses a screen to interactively invite visitors to find out about projects from Europe, Japan and Asia, as well as about our approach to BIM in general.
The exhibition was inaugurated by our Managing Director Masayuki Takinami and the Deputy Managing Director of the branch office, Gebhard von Krosigk, with the words “We have created a place to represent TAKENAKA comprehensively – especially for our local customers”. Etsuo Kurata and Masayuki Kawaharamura, who were responsible for the design of the showroom, hope that not only external visitors but also our own employees will be able to learn more about the TAKENAKA Group. They see the showroom as an opportunity to grow together.
