An Office With Two Faces

Two elements keep the wheels of any artistic company running – the creative and the business. A mutual understanding between departments can go a long way in ensuring the materialisation and sustainability of new ideas. For that to happen, an open environment that is conducive to collaboration is paramount. Such is the case for the new office of designer toys studio Mighty Jaxx, who employed ASOLIDPLAN for the renovation of their new office in Singapore’s Tai Seng industrial estate.

Stemming from Mighty Jaxx’s signature XXRAY Universe series, a striking ‘half-finished, half-exposed’ concept drives the new office. The XXRAY series, created in collaboration with American artist Jason Freeny, features characters with two faces: ‘opaque’ on one side and ‘transparent’– skeletons exposed – on the other. In the same vein, the office was given a nearly even split.

The business department is on the sleek, all-white ‘opaque’ side while the creative department sits on the ‘transparent’ end with exposed roof trusses, piping, mechanical and electrical trunking and a see-through raised floor. “The messiness is reined in by applying a uniform palette of the corporate colours black and yellow,” says Lim Jing Feng, Partner at ASOLIDPLAN.

While there is division in where departments sit, the entire staff is housed in an open floor plan at the heart of the office.

Everyone is connected and can strike up a conversation easily.

This also enables the company to expand without disrupting the existing workflow.

Glass, magnetic blackboards and cork sheets were incorporated onto sliding panels to record sketches, Post-its and pinups to facilitate brainstorming sessions. Fit for a company that values creativity and teamwork, other collaboration-friendly spaces such as flexible white metal pods or the pantry designed to emulate a park, were conceived for casual talks or moments of rest.

Part of the brilliance of the concept lies in the optimisation of resources. Environmental and budget concerns were abated by retaining existing office furniture for the business side of the office, as well as turning existing manager rooms along the perimeters into facilities such as smaller meeting rooms, as well as a prototyping room, photo studio, games room and inventory room, thus reducing the need for major hacking.

“Strategically, money was spent on areas where it would be most impactful, like the reception pantry and main conference room,” says Lim. The dual concept continues in the conference room – one side pristine white and the other side, in contrast, an expansive optical illusion of sorts rendered in a black-and-yellow floor-toceiling grid. Text: Stephanie Peh. Photo: Food and Shelter.