Kaleidoscope POP Magazine Publishing Office
ASID STUDENT COMPETITION 2017/
The project won the 1st Prize of the 2017 ASID Indiana Chapter Student Design Competition.
AutoCAD, photoshop, SketchUp
Reception and Waiting Area
The international high end “POP Magazine” publication company U.A.E. headquarters is located in Abu Dhabi. The office is part of a new multi-story skyscraper which in the 10th floor. In order to associate with the architecture shape of the building, symmetric element is applied to the interior space to create a harmonious, and unified experience for clients. The left side of the floor is a less open area contains private offices, semi-open room. It also is the half a floor that sets general department such as IT, customer services, finance and Human resource. These departments are mostly in charge of the basic function of a company. In order to use the maximum space, the area among the four columns is divided to four parts by functions. There is a café, shared private offices, a quick meeting area and a project room. The right side of the floor has all of the creativity production department such as editors, art director and writers. The sales department is consider as a mix of permanent and temporary department employees, thus their workstation is more flexible than others. The innovation area is in the center of the right side and can be use as a space for meetings , press conferences, discourse, parties and staff rallies. As a multifunctional area, the innovation center is closer to the creativity production team for convenience.
The design concept for the space is “Kaleidoscope”. Kaleidoscope is an intermediary of seeing a different world, kaleidoscopes bring a vibrant, and playful scene for viewers. POP Magazine is an intermediary of seeing a unique world from different aspect, bringing the reader the newest fashion information, and vivid life style trends. Abu Dhabi, is an international modern city, that connects people around the world with a vibrant life, passionate culture, and beautiful climate. Royal blue as the accent color. While warm colors such as orange, bone white, and warm grey support the royal blue. These colors create a contrast and harmony at the same time.
Zoning Diagram
Culture is the most difficult problem I have counter in this project. First, the culture in middle east is more intend to be conservative. For an example, their casual cloth is very long, and usually touch the ground when walking. That makes me consider the floor material. Glossy and smooth material such as LVT create less dirt on their cloth because it has less friction than the carpet. Second, two prayer rooms in both side of the floor were added for respecting everyone’s religious belief. The separation between man and woman raise the use rate for people who prefer to pray with same gender. However, after I have done some research about Abu Dhabi, I start thinking that what exactly would look like in Abu Dhabi. I interviewed a friend who is actually from the U.A.E and she said that Abu Dhabi is a very modern city. Local people in Abu Dhabi have their traditions and religious belief but they also very tolerant for others opinions and behavior. This helped me to design a more modern office look but not an office that full of traditional details.
Knoll’s research “Moving from wellness to well-being” provide very useful information about the sustainability and the hint of how environment promote human’s productivity. The research shows that 87% of the global workforce is “not engaged” or “actively disengaged”. People are not going to be satisfy to have a job. They expect and consider more when they look for a job. Employers will need to retain and attract people in both physical and psychological aspect, which is moving from the wellness to well-being. The most exciting furniture I saw in Knoll commercial is that they have various planning ideas to promote human engage, the office atmosphere is truthfully changing from everybody doing their own work to collaboration and communication.
Innovation Area
