SIGMA’s new headquarters building is GORGEOUS
posted Monday, August 22, 2022 at 3:02 PM EDT

Thanks to COVID, it’s been a long while since I was last in Japan (early March, 2020), and a lot has happened there since then.
One of the bigger pieces of news is that SIGMA Corporation opened its new headquarters building in Kanagawa in May of this year (2022, for those reading this later). When I finally managed to return to Japan again in late July, visiting their new headquarters building was high on my list of things to do.
I had seen a video of the new building produced by Japanese YouTube channel Gizmomo freaks, but still wasn’t prepared for the sheer beauty of the building, interior spaces and grounds. I’m not exaggerating to say it’s easily the most beautiful office building I’ve ever seen, by a wide margin.
I’ll have a number of articles coming over the next month or so, covering the technical and executive interviews I did while I was there, as well as a couple of pieces about some non-camera/lens imaging-related technology, but I thought I’d kick things off with a photo tour of the new SIGMA facility, simply because it was so striking.
I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them :-)










(He’s very polite ;-)



(A typical DaveE overly-detailed side-note: Yamaki san told me that the surrounding forest had been used as a source of firewood for generations by the local populace. To maximize wood production, they’d used a method called coppicing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing As a result, the vegetation was extremely dense and very unlike that of a natural woodland. From the time he first purchased the property, Yamaki san had arborists working to restore the forest to a more natural state. This involved clearing out a lot of the overgrowth, resulting in a lot of scrap wood. Rather than send it to a landfill (or whatever the Japanese do with such material), Yamaki san had it shredded to create a wood-chip base for the new garden and its paths. As the forest is maintained over time, trimmed vegetation will also be converted to chips and used to maintain the garden paths.)

Yamaki san explained that the white pillars aren’t merely decorative, they’re an integral part of the structure. To allow the open, airy design, high-strength pre-stressed concrete pillars were used to support the structure, carrying the weight of the building so the wall area could be used for windows. (Remember, this is in earthquake-prone Japan, so buildings are constructed to very high standards to withstand large amounts of ground movement. The pre-stressed panels are very strong relative to their size, so provide the support needed by Japan’s strict earthquake-resistant building codes.)


The books here are a well-curated collection of photo books, accumulated over the last several years as part of an ongoing project. Yamaki san explained to me that most photo books are printed only once and in relatively short runs, so many are lost to the sands of time, scattered across many private collections. He wanted to preserve more of the legacy of the photographic community, so hired a professional photo critic to curate this collection. It currently stands at 4,000 volumes and is being added to all the time. This was just one of the delightful architectural surprises the building held. As I said above, so many elements of the building were designed and composed to produce views that any photographer would immediately see as shot-worthy. This was one of them.


I visited SIGMA's new HQ building in the late afternoon, which is why the huge wall of windows in the shot above is mostly covered by window shades. The windows on the office floors of the main building face west, so the afternoon sun would stream in if it weren’t blocked by the shades. Yamaki san said that the shades are electronically controlled and programmed to open and close during the day to allow the maximum view of the outdoors, while blocking the sun as needed to maintain a comfortable work environment.

Yamaki san splits his time between this desk and one on the third floor, with the camera and electronics engineers. He said that he views his connection with the engineers as critical to the success of the company and a large part of SIGMA's success over the years. It’s very unusual to find a CEO as closely-coupled with his engineering staff as Yamaki san is to his. This also explains how it is that he can comment so intelligently on virtually any aspect of SIGMA's engineering and manufacturing processes. He’s truly unique in the photography space, particularly since his purview spans everything from design to manufacturing to marketing.
Looking at the optical design section, I was struck by the range of ages among the designers. Quite a few seemed very young, but there were obviously a few veterans among them as well. (Yamaki san told me that the gentleman in the foreground had no less than 25 years of optical design experience, and was the creator of the 24-70mm f/2.8 Art lens.)Yamaki san explained that he likes to hire top talent directly out of school, letting them learn on the job and gain experience from the senior engineers. He said he tries to hire about one optical designer per year, to keep a good spread of age and experience across the teams.


Yamaki san explained that one concern he had about moving to the new building was that all of the engineers had previously been on the same floor together. He believes that communication between the groups is essential to SIGMA's success, so wanted to insure that it would be very easy for members of various teams to interact with each other. So far, he says it seems to be working well.

I commented to Yamaki san on what a huge investment this must represent for SIGMA, and he said that indeed it was, but it’s an area he feels is critical to SIGMA's future.

As I'm writing this, I realized that I didn’t get any shots of the fourth floor of the main building, where all the administrative, sales and marketing staff are located. Other than the different job functions people perform there, it looks much like the two engineering floors, a large open-plan workspace with huge windows on three sides.
Conclusion
So that’s a full tour of SIGMA's new headquarters building. Photos don't really do justice to the experience of being there and walking through it; as I said at the outset it’s easily the most beautiful office building and work environment I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to convey the almost Zen-like feeling of calm and connection to nature you experience being there.
One thing that I’ve seen in SIGMA over and over again, and that’s expressed in the new headquarters building as well, is how much Yamaki san values his employees. In an era that spawned the Dilbert comic and its Pointy-Haired Boss, SIGMA represents the polar opposite. Engineers in many companies complain that they're treated like mushrooms (fed …stuff… and kept in the dark ;-) but at SIGMA they’re the rock stars. SIGMA's CEO makes a point of sitting among them so he can connect with and understand their thinking and the challenges they face in creating the next generation of products.
It’s not just the engineers, though. I see the same camaraderie and esprit de corps in admin areas as well, and SIGMA's factory in Aizuwakamatsu has the reputation of being one of the best places to work in the area. (As related to me by a friend with no connection to SIGMA who lives there.)
The respect for and appreciation of the people who make SIGMA's success possible extends beyond their walls: As other lens manufacturers off-shored their production, SIGMA became the sole customer for many of its suppliers. Yamaki san has shared with me the commitment and responsibility he feels to these companies as well, to continue to support their businesses and provide work for their employees.
I freely admit to being a SIGMA fan, but it goes back to my admiration and respect for Yamaki san himself. In a cutthroat world and in an industry where it’s ever more challenging to turn a profit, the kind of commitment he shows towards his employees and suppliers deserves celebrating. It's nice to see that it also results in excellent products and a sustainable business model.