Although officially still a Communist state, and one under increasingly strict government supervision in most areas of life, China‘s economy has seen a dramatic transformation in the past decades. State ownership and central planning have made way for private initiatives, enabling a large number of Chinese to thrive and prosper like never before, especially big city dwellers. Banking on the ever-growing demographic of freelancers and online entrepreneurs in the world’s biggest consumer market is UCOMMUNE, a workspace chain founded in 2015 and which now operates numerous locations in business hubs across China, Hong Kong and Singapore. The company’s latest venue opened in Beijing and it’s situated on the site of Xianyukou, a historic shopping area lined with traditional hutong dwellings in the heart of the city. The entire area is in full transformation and has become home to much publicised new venues such as the MUJI Hotel and flagships of both Starbucks and Page One.
Occupying a whopping 3,221 sqm. (34,671 sq.ft.) set across three floors of a redeveloped existing building, UCOMMUNE Dajiang Hutong sees an interior design by Chinese practice inDeco. An open meeting space sits between the first and second floors, creating a voluminous atrium with a glass roof which allows in floods of daylight. The space features an expansive mural by Beijing-based Drawing Architecture Studio as a backdrop for various seating arrangements where tenants and visitors can sit back and mingle. Also to be found on the ground floor are a number of facilities, including cafés, book bars and public meeting rooms. Up on the second floor, eleven separate office spaces are situated in various interior styles. The basement is sees rows of desks, offering an abundance of individual workspaces, in addition to more modest relax zones. Obviously, the new venue has all the amenities that make a great office space, including WiFi, printing and copying machines, shredders, and it has its very own parking lot.
UCOMMUNE
131 Dajiang Hutong
100005 Beijing
Telephone: +86 138 11941575
Mon-Fri 10-6
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
