To design corporate offices for 2 main companies involved in infrastructure projects on a 55/45% split of floor area. Within the larger floor area of 55% are housed 2 companies.

Design Brief
A pool of meeting and discussion rooms, a common reception and pantry and a large conference room are to be shared by all companies. These areas occupy a central location on plan. Privacy to each personal space was a design issue. Whilst visitors are allowed into the depths of the office, they should not be able to gaze onto documents lying on desks or read information on desktop monitors. A combination of rooms and open plan workstations were to be provided for each office:-

GIIG's office:
1 room for executive director
Rooms for 4 vice presidents
4 workstations for 2 personal assistants and 2 clerks / admin assistants
2 rooms for 6 persons for external consultants
3 work stations for islamic business centre

SATS office:
In PTP's section-
2 workstations for secretaries
3 rooms for managers
1 meeting room for 10 persons

In SATS section:
6 rooms for managers
8 workstations in general office area
1 chairman’s room
1 CEO’s room

Special projects unit:
1 room for 6 persons
1 workstation for secretary
1 meeting room for 6 persons

Common resources and facilities:
1 conference room for about 24 persons
2 discussion rooms for 6 persons
2 meeting rooms for 8 persons
Copier/print ,shredder and faxing area
1 pantry for visitors
1 staff pantry
Stationery and storage cupboards
Single reception and associated waiting areas

The existing floor space
The offices occupy Level 24 of an existing office block in central Kuala Lumpur built in the mid seventies. The plan is octagonal with ribbon windows all round the perimeter and a central octagonal concrete core housing lifts, plant rooms and toilets. A commanding view of the city can be had from this level. A 2,400 mm floor to ceiling height was found before the renovation.

Design approach, solutions and features:
Working with the geometry
As an octagonal building on plan is really a circular building, spatial planning was particularly difficult as the rigid geometry imposed itself and ways of creating comprehensible or "static" spaces had to be found. In each of the eight bays, rectilinear spaces were carved out for regular offices and the remaining corners given to special areas. Out of the irregular shaped spaces that were centered on each column were created special rooms for senior managers. Spatial coherence.

There is no end to a volume of space that goes round and round. To create stop points and to visually connect the reception to the furthest point away, we developed a ceiling grid of steel plate channels that also housed light fittings flowing from the reception and filling into each of the kite shaped corners. Daylight penetration.

Getting daylight to the core walls was our main preoccupation. At 24 floors above ground, the quality of light is different and plentiful. This we did by installing a sloping ceiling from the core wall up to the perimeter. Unfortunately, the presence of mechanical services and sprinkler pipework did not allow a more pronounced slope. Walls were kept low at 1,500 mm high where possible and light tinted glass was used as much as possible.

Fragmenting the rigid core wall
Storage and niches for faxes and printers were incorporated into a white sinuous wall that clung onto the core wall without touching the floor and ceiling. It is shaped to ease circulation into the office. Deeper parts of the wall contained server rooms and print stations. The combination of this sinuous wall, the suspended steel "kites" in the ceiling and the octagonal geometry meant that the vista and landscape within the office changes at every turn.

Visual privacy
The interior landscape through which people flow was conceived as "city-scape" in which one would find small blocks of finely finished material such as wide grained veneer and stainless steel set at random along the traveller's path. Behind these small structures were secretarial workstations. Visual clutter is contained behind these low walls whilst privacy is assured.

Finishes
A simple palette of finishes was used. Wood floor for the reception and offices, carpet for the circulation areas. White walls and white ceiling are offset by the silver metallic grid structure that unites the whole office despite the fact that three companies are within. Timber veneer is used sparingly and as a precious material to punctuate the space (Dark grained veneer is Malaysian Rengas from Sarawak, light grained is Maple). Room walls are acoustically enhanced by a 600mm band of perforated gypsum board inserted at ear level all round the room walls.