An Office To Live In
An office to live in
Warner Music, Singapore
November 16-17, 2013 | The Business Times Weekend, Saturday/Sunday
Save for a sign at the entrance, and a wall covered with photographs of musicians, it is hard to tell that this is the Singapore office of Warner Music.
The space near Bukit Merah feels more like that of a design or advertising agency. It is a far cry from the company's previous office, which was bigger, but had the typical cubicle-and-partitioned wall combination.
Warner Music Singapore's general manager Simon Nasser says, "the office now has a more homely feel".
He would know. Mr Nasser worked with interior design firm Forward 50 in the new look, without revealing anything to his staff in Singapore or his superiors in Hong Kong. "Everyone had a pleasant surprise when we moved in four months ago," says Mr Nasser. The office has a chic industrial look - think cement and brick walls, mixed with steel and wood. "I was confident that people would like it, since this is similar to my home. And they all love coming over to my place," quips Mr Nasser.
The office was also shortlisted this year for the Herman Miller Most Liveable Office Award.
Forward 50 director Christopher Kwek had a clear idea of how he wanted the office to be. "Since this is the office for a music company, it would have been easy to put music symbols around the space. But that is so cliched and overdone," he says.
Instead, he focused on using materials to bring life to the space. Cement flooring and walls all around give the office a raw feel. To add interest to the reception area, Mr Kwek created a feature wall out of recycled railway sleepers, that is adjacent to a brick wall. The breakout area by the reception, with its mix of mid-century furniture pieces and a hanging, bespoke TV console that resembles a fireplace, could easily be mistaken for a living room rather than a space for discussions. It also doesn't help that the pantry area, with a bright orange Smeg fridge, is next to it.
The initial idea was for the office to not have any rooms, but Mr Kwek advised otherwise. "This was the first time that I had to suggest the need for rooms," he says. There are only two here - a glass-enclosed one for Mr Nasser, and the second which is the meeting room.
Mr Kwek did away with the typical conference table, and had a table made of African mahogany in its place. "It is narrower than the usual width, so everyone can get closer in a meeting," he says.
Mr Nasser chose pieces for his office, such as a stainless steel beaded curtain, which he bought from the now-defunct Ink Bar.
The remaining staff sit in an open area, with workstations arranged in a boomerang configuration, "to encourage more mingling", says Mr Kwek.
Whereas the old office used to have storage for CDs, visitors would be hard-pressed to find a single CD in this office. "We have gone totally digital," says Mr Nasser. Music is now stored in a computer, and every day, each staff member gets to play music from their personal playlist. "We all have different tastes in music, but so far, we have not had any problems," he says.
The industrial chic look is going so well with the management office in Hong Kong that Mr Nasser's boss wants to recreate this look for its other offices in the Philippines and Malaysia. There will be competition to see who has the best office. Mr Nasser is unfazed. "I say bring it on."
