SCCW Headquarters Improvements Project
Design: JSA Architects
Location: Shanghai, China
Project Year: 2019-2023
This project was an ongoing, step-by-step renovation for a company headquarters stretched out over several years, enduring both leadership and scope changes. The underlying design goal was not to re-make the space entirely new, but rather to enrich and enhance what was already there. Even though the overall improvement of the spaces would be deeply felt in the end, the hope was that the line between old and new would be indistinguishable.
Only one of the floors, the meeting center, required a complete redesign. Originally isolated from the rest of offices. we used the opportunity to open the space and its functions into the rest of the office. This involved creating a connection to the main lobby, and extending material and design elements from the existing building into the new meeting facilities.
Since the project was not a gut rehab, we sought to blend the new work seamlessly with the existing environment. Space use was subtly upgraded and refined, the general office atmosphere relaxed and warmed up. Furnishings replaced as necessary to create a more cohesive, professional character.
The project began with a single room on the fifth floor before the scope started to expand in multiple directions.It was here, in the executive meeting room, that the tone was set for the rest of the project: a relaxed, mid-century modern style with natural materials and muted colors, which could be woven in various ways with the existing building.
