Warner Music Singapore
Music by the Bay
Warner Music appointed Bean Buro to design a new workplace for their operations in Singapore. The brief was to design the space with unique qualities while still retaining much of the same ‘DNA’ from the previous successors of Warner Music workplaces that we designed in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Overall, the design would improve upon the previous office with new concepts such as collaborative working and creating a humanistic space that supports the dynamic interactions between the employees and many visiting artists.
AwardsBetter Future Hong Kong Design Awards 2023 - 'Gold' Winner | PERSPECTIVE A&D Awards 2022 - 'Best Workplace' Certificate of ExcellenceClient: Undisclosed
Location: Hong Kong
“Thank you for the wonderful partnership and great work on the design of our new office. It’s been a hit.”
— Gerald Ang, Managing Director, Warner Music Singapore
The Process: Creating a memorable entrance experience
We preserved the powerful entrance experience with an unobstructed view of the external scenery of the iconic Marina Bay upon entering the workplace. The front of house is a welcoming foyer with in-wall booths and an art mural by Tobyato. The main open space is a lounge with a performance stage with a large LED screen as a backdrop and an open pantry on the opposite end.
The Solutions: A layout that maximises natural daylight
The overall open plan workplace benefits from maximum daylight and natural views with enclosed rooms such as the boardroom, meeting room, and phonebooth positioned in the backdrop. The director’s room is immediately adjacent to the working cluster, separated by a large glass partition.
We created a room for visiting artists to have their makeup and styling done in an enclosed space for resting next to the performance stage. There is also a music room allowing employees to sample music and is designed as a corner room with ample natural daylight to work and relax. It is equipped with AV facilities and various acoustic solutions to ensure noise is contained and reverberation is reduced.
“Each individual part of the vessel was a variety of work spaces equipped with their own privacy control such as misty gradient glass partitions or curtains. Work clusters occupy the open neighborhoods, each with access to shared supports and collaborative work zones. The work clusters can be re-arranged to match the constantly changing needs of the company.”
— Lorène Faure & Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui, co-founders of Bean Buro
The Materials: An articulated palette for productivity and wellbeing
It was essential to use colours and materials to promote a sociable and energetic atmosphere and reflect the brand’s dynamic identity while also articulating it to maximise the productivity of the users while simultaneously prioritising the users’ wellbeing and comfort. For example, the front of house has a unique mixture of pristine stainless steel panels balanced with timber and leather joineries. The overall floor is an environmentally friendly terrazzo flooring and an earthy coloured painted ceiling that strengthens the workplace’s identity. On the other hand, in the general workspace, the mood and feel are very calm, airy and fresh with a lighter timber colour and various soft materials such as fabric wall coverings and carpet.
Environmentally friendly materials are specified wherever possible. We also improved energy usage efficiency by allowing natural daylight into the work setting instead of relying entirely on artificial lighting. Most of the furniture and bespoke joinery were designed to be removable for the client to reuse in the future to increase their life cycles potentially.
The Challenge: Sophisticated acoustics for optimal sound separation
A challenge we successfully overcame was establishing the best acoustic solution for this space. While it was essential to enable activities such as performing and demoing music across this music-driven workplace, it was also necessary to provide areas for more focused work. Therefore, we have created different work settings such as a large boardroom, a smaller meeting room, a phone booth, and semi-enclosed collaboration booths and lounge furniture for informal working. These options allow for good acoustic separation while the other areas promote sociable interactions.
