INMEDIA, an advertising agency based in Shanghai, tasked Yatofu Creatives with creating an office space which would increase its employees’ sense of happiness, freedom, and inspiration. Yatofu set out to concoct a space which would offer varied and dynamic ways of work, as well as reflecting the agency’s forward-thinking spirit.

The new office space is located in the Hongkou area, a district in Shanghai known for its historic neighborhoods of condensed alleyway housings called lilongs. Influenced by the legacy of these lilongs and inspired by the comparative visual vibrancy found in the small alley streets of Southern Europe, Yatofu Creatives approached the design for INMEDIA's office by seeking to bring a sense of community into the office setting.

Yatofu planned the space with two zones which represent the “interior” and “exterior” of the alleyways. The wood-clad structure, which houses the private office and meeting rooms, draws inspiration from the residences that line the bustling alleys, with windows opening into the interior to offer a glimpse of the activity inside. The “exterior” area references materials often found on alleyway exteriors, and is clad in glossy crimson tiles, paired against the rawness of the exposed concrete. Custom table lamps, whose forms are directly inspired by pedestrian street lamps, line the table alleys as if luminating narrow passageways.

Throughout the space, opportunistic seating arrangements are created through winding paths that offer privacy through the creation of corners, resulting in dynamic possibilities for different formats of work. Along the glazed wall of windows, a sun-lit corridor serves as an area to relax and recharge, but can also be purposed as an informal meeting area for the employees.

By referencing a different architectural typology to serve as the spirit of the workspace concept, INMEDIA's office steers away from generic office configurations to create one which promotes spontaneous interactions and blurred boundaries between the individual and the shared space. This format for their new office not only encourages interactive behavior, but also promotes a sense of community and combined purpose.

Sustainability
We tried to make smart and strategic decisions which allowed us to source as locally as possible. Other than the sofa, office chairs and lounge chairs, most other furniture were produced either as built-ins or custom made by local fabricators. This includes most of decorative lamps as well as large meeting tables. Another major part of our material sourcing were the crimson ceramic tiles and concrete floor tiles. Rather than selecting from international or large tile manufacturers, we opted for small-batch locally produced tiles to reduce the need for shipping and logistics. We also tried to keep the manipulation of the spatial structure itself to a minimum, exposing the column, beams, and parts of the wall down to its original concrete to minimize material use.