Speculative Futures

November 17, Kudan House

Speculative Futures

A forum for consequential imagination

One day.A shared room.Where futures are tested, not imagined.

Presented by semi permanent x teenage engineering, Speculative Futures brings builders across disciplines into closer proximity to examine what comes next through Ground Truth, The Human Layer, What Moves Culture First, and Physical Proof.

Not prediction.Consequence.

Agenda

Speculative Futures unfolds through a series of conversations moving from the systems shaping daily life to the intelligence, culture, and physical forms through which the future becomes real.

Opening: Building the FutureA conversation about experimentation, invention, and the creative technologies shaping what comes next.

Ground TruthHow do environments, cities, infrastructures, and atmospheres shape how people live, gather, move, and imagine?

The Human LayerAs intelligence becomes more capable and embedded, what happens to human agency, trust, emotion, and decision-making?

What Moves Culture FirstBefore futures become mainstream, they often appear as signals—in aesthetics, media, subculture, taste, desire, and creative practice.

Physical ProofThe future becomes believable when it becomes tangible: through objects, tools, materials, machines, bodies, homes, and designed systems.

Closing ReflectionA final synthesis on consequence, responsibility, and what is worth building.

Explore the latest agenda:semipermanent.com

Speculative Futures Passport

US$990 including 10% Japan Consumption TaxUS$900 before tax

For practitioners working across architecture, design, technology, science, culture, cities, business, research, and public life, and for those building, questioning, and testing what comes next.

Your Passport includes

Full access on November 17General seating and access to the complete Speculative Futures program at Soho House Tokyo.

Conversations and curated throughlinesA cross-disciplinary forum examining environments, intelligence, culture, design, science, society, and the consequences of what we choose to build.

The BentoA seasonal lunch curated by Nourish chefs. Dietary requirements can be shared during checkout.

Light hospitalityThoughtful hospitality throughout the day, supporting a continuous rhythm of listening, exchange, and reflection.

Included

KitA bespoke, curated offering created specifically for those in the room.

CommonsYour Speculative Futures badge opens more than the venue. It welcomes you into Tokyo Commons, our growing network of restaurants, cafés, galleries, bookshops, hotels, listening rooms, and independent businesses.

Because the gathering does not end when the program does. It simply finds a new table.

BasecampA home for the curious. WPÜ Shinjuku, our Official Community Hotel Partner, is the everyday living room of Tokyo Salone.

Passport holders will receive a private community room rate and booking details after purchasing their ticket. Rooms are subject to availability, so we recommend booking early.

Gather over coffee, music, and conversation. Drop in, meet someone new, or simply make yourself at home. Some of the best conversations begin here.

ExploreTokyo Salone and Speculative Futures are only the beginning.

Together with Kammui, our Official Japan Experience Partner, discover a deeper Japan through thoughtfully curated journeys, regional explorations, local introductions, and unforgettable side quests.

Experience Japan through the people, places, and stories that rarely appear on a map.

The Speculative Futures Passport is more than entry. It is an invitation to examine what is emerging, challenge what feels inevitable, and take part in deciding what is worth building.

Not simply a seat in the audience.A place within the inquiry.

Ground truth. Human agency. Physical proof.

Come ready to question, contribute, and engage.

Invoices are available for workplace reimbursement upon request.

Venue

Kudan House

Built in 1927 as the Yamaguchi family residence, Kudan House brings nearly a century of architectural history into contemporary Tokyo. Set in the Kudan district, its Spanish-style architecture, intimate rooms, and garden now provide a setting for creative exchange, connecting the house's life with new ideas and relationships.

Within the Tokyo Salone constellation, Kudan House hosts this year’s Speculative Futures. Here, we gather across disciplines to explore how emerging ideas become the systems, objects, and cultures we live with, and consider what is worth carrying forward.

Explore the constellation

Tokyo Salone, Nourish

Intentionally limited.A place in the room has been held for you.We’ll meet you in Tokyo.

Constellation

Speculative Futures is part of Tokyo Salone, a constellation unfolding across restaurants, galleries, studios, workshops, cafés, gardens, listening rooms, hotels, kitchens, cultural institutions, and unexpected spaces throughout Tokyo and Kyoto.

Every place shapes the conversations it hosts. Together, the cities become our campus.

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Code of Conduct,Commercial Disclosure,and Media Release

Partnering with Tokyo Salone

Tokyo Salone is built for the long term. Rather than sponsoring a single event, our partners become part of an evolving cultural institution connecting global creative communities with Japan.

If our ambitions align, we’d love to start a conversation.