Warner Music Beijing Gets a Revamp

Drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese courtyard houses, Bean Buro designed an intuitive, sociable workplace for Warner Music Group

Following the successful makeover of its Hong Kong headquarters in 2016,  world-leading record company Warner Music once again called on Hong Kong design firm Bean Buro to revamp its Beijing office in the business district of Chaoyang.

Inspired by siheyuan, traditional courtyard homes found most commonly in Beijing, Bean Buro aspired to create a workplace tailored to the local context and that celebrates the capital’s architectural heritage. The 700-quare-metre space houses a series of music rooms and dressing rooms and a kitchen, all wrapped around an open-plan office that acts as the ‘courtyard’, which is intended to reflect the music label’s social and collaborative culture. Glass wall panels let in natural daylight and the spectacular city views provide an additional source of inspiration for artists and staff.  

For the materials palette, the Bean Buro team looked to the textures of traditional Chinese musical instruments for inspiration, selecting timber, brushed copper and herringbone-vinyl walls to evoke a sense of warmth and harmony, concrete and green vinyl flooring to define the various areas in the office, and timber walls to enwrap the entire space and enhance visual continuity. ‘It was essential to develop a sense of place for the company as a whole while allowing each employee to feel a sense of belonging to their local neighbourhood,’ explains Bean Buro co-founder Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui.

Considering Warner Music’s global presence, the lack of a formal reception desk is somewhat surprising. But in its place is a casual reception desk and performance and event area, where visitors are greeted by an LED video wall and a spacious lounge at the front of the house. As with all their projects, Kinugasa-Tsui and his team prioritised wellbeing and engagement with the space. ‘One can mean well by incorporating all of the science of functional workplace strategies in the layout,’ he says, ‘but in order to achieve a genuinely engaging space, the hierarchy of three-dimensional elements and the balance of colours and materials must come together in a tasteful and elegant manner.’

Text / Nicole Chim
Images / Shawn Koh/Feng Studios