Minth HQ

The transition from ‘made in China’ to ‘designed in China’ forces companies to rethink their activities and work methods. The Chinese office is facing dramatic changes: unpredictable organizations, new types of work and the impact of technology are transforming the 21st-century office.

In 2009, China overtook the U.S. as the world’s biggest auto market. MINTH Group, a leading supplier of car parts, built a new headquarters for 800 staff in an area that had been a farm field only ten years earlier – from no tech to high tech in a decade.

Collaboration and interaction foster innovation and should be at the core of 21st-century office work. At the same time, work has shifted from desktop to laptop to mobile. We proposed a drastic design strategy, not based on program, but on embracing change.

The key idea is the ability of the office to adapt to unpredictability. The design maximizes the contrast between its fixed parts – screens, storage, pantries and printers – and its flexible ones: people. A system of walls, the barcode, structures the space. The ‘bars’ are fixed; the space between them can densify over time, creating a crossover between the traditional cell office and the office landscape.

With a closed aluminum side for storage and an open translucent side for sharing information, the bars create a diverse setting of rooms that can change and adapt. Their shifted position allows views and communication between teams and departments, while their north-south orientation brings daylight deep into the building.

Several ‘specials’ stimulate collectivity: a circular lecture room, confidential ‘war rooms’ and informal areas for spontaneous meetings. Industrial materials – steel, glass and aluminum – and the flawless, grid-like organization reference MINTH’s industrial background.