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Text description provided by the architects. The project is located at the west gate of Shenzhen University and it is for a multi-media production company. The client invited us for two small projects: one is the office renovation and second is the new coffee shop building. The two projects are next to each other, the coffee shop is to be finished by end of this year while the office renovation is completed in September 2015.

The previous use of the office space is a cafe and gallery, together around 600m2, with height 4.5m. There is a level difference of 600mm in the middle of the area.

The main challenge of office design is how to merge the site conditions and usage, for example the ratio of open area and private working area, interaction and meeting spaces, and also the atmosphere of the space suiting the company’s identity etc. Since the office is a multi-media company, the innovation, preparation departments need open work spaces except for the meeting rooms and human resources department. Then we have enough freedom and possibilities to plan for the allocations.

In the design, we have concerned few issues:

1-Steps as interaction areas: with the existing level differences, we have made some magazine shelves and steps. The staff can work, communicate or discuss here.

2-Memory of the space: the previous gallery had retained the old texture of the building, during the design process, we have kept the original concrete texture at the ceiling and columns. We only renovated the wall and ground surfaces, therefore the design merges the history and new elements together.

3-Nature and Work: the front and back of the office we have considered the green elements, although it is located at the urban area. The facade facing the road we used bamboos to create a private garden while the backyard is a raised wood platform for leisure.

The office, is not only a working area, but also the place for exchange and communication of ideas.