Imaginechina
Imaginechina, the new office space designed by Lime388
The project is located on the fifth floor of a former factory building in Jing’an District, named after Jing’an temple, an ancient traditional Chinese Buddhist temple located in the heart of the area. Boarding the Huangpu District in the east and Suzhou creek to the north, Jing’an is now one of the central districts and one of Shanghai’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Yet the surrounding of this old building is relatively peaceful and benefits of a wide tree lined street.
For this project, we had to consider the specificity of the client, Imaginechina, which is a leading photo agency in China, producing and syndicating features and photos for both of the international and local markets. Representing the largest network of Chinese photographers located in all regions and provinces of China, their new office have thus to serve their professional requirements as well as reflect their dynamism and creativity.
Combining the field of the client and its needs, we redesigned the existing into a shape-pure, natural materials, bright loft-type creative space doted of strong practical space functions, corresponding to distinct professional fields. Indeed, the design, if homogeneous, makes a visual differentiation between Sales and Marketing, Editing, Shooting, HR, IT and Management areas.
The shooting studio with its seven meters ceiling and its glass roof is central located. Standing for the core business of the company, it brings light to the entire space and organizes the rest of the office that gravitates around it. We thought that shooting and editing were tasks requiring a peaceful environment and thus designed accordingly by preferring natural materials with a mix of concrete and wood, bright white color and adding a fengshui touch while creating a “zen” garden.
The open working space is furnished with large white lacquer desks and answers the requirement of friendly atmosphere and easy communication between the staff. The color scheme again uses mainly pure white. Yet a bright red color applied on the meeting rooms doors engenders contrast and balance while breaking the all-white rhythm. Likewise the libraries, several groups of dark geometric open bookcases that constitute strong graphic and visual elements.
If an utmost care was given not to touch the original space structure, strong heritage and trademark of the industry building style, the creative arrangement makes this space a definitely trendy office, accordingly to Imaginechina’s positioning --- visual resource supplier for both home and overseas.
Imaginechina - 990 Changping Lu - Shanghai
www.imaginechina.com