Designed by Spark Architects, the brand new Spark Beijing Office is located in Dongcheng, China and was completed in 2015. It features 5,381 square feet of space and is a part of a three-story office building that was constructed towards the end of the 1980s. In order to allow inhabitants to enjoy the building’s older brick facade, the architects decided to implement an annex glass box to the second floor of the building, and it is this box that comprises the office space.
The workspace is divided into several sections, including a small meeting room, a model making room, a large meeting room, a gathering space, a kitchen and the primary work area. A welcomed addition comes in the form of a continuous metal wall that is implemented along the main workspace. The wall is actually composed of swivel doors that reflect the office environment when closed while also serving as a pin-up space for ideas.
Also known as “the ply room”, the model making room can be reached via several routes, and this makes it highly accessible. Under the supervision of expert architect Lin Li, Spark Architects managed to create a wonderful working environment, a place where imagination and creativity are encouraged and rewarded.
From the architect:
The Liang Dian Design Centre on Dongsishitiao is home to the new Spark Beijing office; occupying 500 square meters on the second floor of a three story office building form the late 1980’s.
An annex glass box had been added to second floor of the existing building allowing for the exterior brick façade to be experienced as an interior space.
“We looked at the present configuration of the space and decided to keep it uninterrupted while inserting our office program” says Spark’s Beijing director Jan Felix Clostermann.
The space is loosely zoned into a main work area, kitchen and gathering space, a large meeting room area, a model making room and smaller meeting room.
Demolishing the window up stands of the existing brick façade towards the glass box gave way to a much desired permeability of the space.
longside the main work space a continuous wall of metal cladded swivel doors allow for a playful and flexible configuration of “open and close”.
When closed the metal panels catch subtle reflections of the surrounding office environment, while becoming a 20m long “wall of imagination” inviting project teams to pin up- and discuss their work.
The model making room, themed as “the ply room” is accessible via multiple routes through an extreme vertical space of what used to be a stairwell core.
The flux of the reception area, meeting room and kitchen can be discontinued via floor to ceiling swivel doors whenever activities require it.
“The architecture profession fuels on idea exchange, so we sought to provide open collaborative spaces that are fun, where people want to be” says Spark’s Beijing director Christian Taeubert.
Architects: Spark Architects
Location: Dongsishitiao, Dongcheng, China, 100027
Architect in Charge: Lin Li
Project Director: Jan Felix Clostermann, Christian Taeubert
Area: 500.0 sqm
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Shu He
