Roland unveiled its new global headquarters and we were there to see it. The architecture is impressive but what really has us excited is the inherent potential for new technology.
It might seem wild but until now, Roland has never had a proper headquarters. The global company has had to make do with a series of offices spread out across the city of Hamamatsu, Japan. This piecemeal approach saw the R&D departments for Roland and subsidiary BOSS in separate buildings, with another for general administration. In 2023, Roland announced that it was going to address this corporate Balkanization and finally unite everyone under a single roof.
In December of last year, Roland debuted its new headquarters. Called Roland Inspiration Hub, it’s a forward-thinking endeavor both architecturally and conceptually, with a number of suitably inspiring touches that hint at what the future has in store.
Roland and Hamamatsu
Roland didn’t start its life in Hamamatsu. Founder Ikutaro Kakehashi set up the company in Osaka in 1972 after departing his previous outfit, Ace Tone. Although Roland would remain in Japan’s second city for another three decades, in 1973 Kakehashi took the step of establishing a dedicated Roland factory in Hamamatsu.
A central Japanese city with a long history of manufacturing, Hamamatsu became the musical instrument center of Japan after Torakusu Yamaha, the founder of the company that bears his name, started making reed organs in the city in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1897. With Kawai and Suzuki also there, among other, smaller companies, it made sense for Roland to also manufacture its products in Hamamatsu.
Roland did finally make the move to Hamamatsu in 2005, but had its various departments spread out across different locations throughout the outskirts of the city, most famously with the R&D Center and its Roland Museum overlooking Lake Hamana. It was a step in the right direction, but it still meant that departments had to remain separated, slowing down communication and the exchange of ideas. Not ideal.
[quote align=right text="What better way to unite the various departments under one roof than by symbolically and literally creating a new roof across multiple buildings?"]
Old Becomes New
What better way to unite the various departments under one roof than by symbolically and literally creating a new roof across multiple buildings? The new structure housing the three-story Roland Inspiration Hub does just that, combining two existing buildings (actually the former location of Roland DG, formerly Amdek and now a completely unrelated endeavor) into a single new one.
In a unique twist, the outside space previously situated between the two old structures now forms a central atrium called the Roland Arena. This was the location for the unveiling event on December 10, which featured a presentation about the creation of the building as well as a musical performance showing off some of Roland’s latest instruments. The company envisions using the Arena as a gathering space for special occasions, but also in a day-to-day capacity, with an instrument station on permanent display for employees to use when needed.
Surrounding the Arena on each floor is the so-called Roland Circuit, a wall-less corridor that provides access to the surrounding office and R&D areas for both Roland and BOSS, all of which are equally without walls, each floor a massive open-plan space that—the compa