Inside Kui You Film Productions Offices / X&Collective
X&Collective has designed a unique office space for Kui You Film Productions, a production company based in Shanghai, China.
The name of the company, Kui You, means ‘friend of the Sunflower’, thus the garden theme was selected as the design direction for the office space. It is also very much in line with the nature of their work as a film production company. With the raw film script in hand, they’re responsible for selecting the best director, film crew, actors, and manage the entire production till the film is ready to go on air. Just like nurturing plants, from the state of seeds till they bloom for all to marvel at.
There was a slight problem, the office block is located within an industrial compound, and there are no green or plants in sight! Thus we decided to turn the office inside out, and move the garden into the office space instead.
Using pavement slabs for flooring, cladding the wall with wooden planks, and water feature that is leading into the office, walking into the reception is like walking out to a park.
Once inside the office, one is blown away with the juxtapose of what’s inside and outside. Guest are greeted by tall trees in the centre courtyard with high overhead volume that opens to the roof. The raised wooden platform as the courtyard is lined with lounge seats so scriptwriters and directors can discuss comfortably under the shade of the trees. The walkways are turfed with green grass so to enhance the natural feel under the feet.
The two meeting rooms are situated next to the central courtyard with foldable doors, allowing these two spaces to be an extension of the garden when there’re no private meetings.
The middle stairway leads office staff to their work stations on the second level. Staff can view the garden courtyard from the perimeter of the space where they’re seated. At the end of this perimeter is a long table arrangement that can be broken up into smaller group discussion area. Hung above this area are countless gold, silver and bronze lights
that looks like shimmering stars over the moving leaves in the night.After the re-construction, Kui You attracted a lot more visitations from clients, creative agencies, directors, and equally important, film production specialists that wanted to work for them.
Design: X&Collective – Alex Xie, Yang Yeo
Photography: Zhang Lelu
