SOHO approached AIM with a challenge: imagine a shopping centre as a new type of office. 25,000 square metres of blank space, already built for retail. Transform it into a co-working space, part of SOHO?s new 3Q brand that Forbes has called ?Uber for offices?. SOHO is known for pure white. AIM is vibrant. Offices are divisive. Shopping centres are built on a massive scale. Bridge the gap.

© Jerry Yin

Architects: AIM Architecture

Location: Xi Li, Xicheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100055

Area: 33874.0 sqm

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Jerry Yin

Design Team: Wendy Saunders, Vincent de Graaf, Ivan Yu, German Roig, Byungmin Jeon, Liat Goldman, Lily Zhu, Bertil Dongker, Alex Fripp and Zhikun Zhang
Client: SOHO China

Client Industry: Real estate

© Jerry Yin

From the architect. SOHO approached AIM with a challenge: imagine a shopping centre as a new type of office. 25,000 square metres of blank space, already built for retail. Transform it into a co-working space, part of SOHO?s new 3Q brand that Forbes has called ?Uber for offices?. SOHO is known for pure white. AIM is vibrant. Offices are divisive. Shopping centres are built on a massive scale. Bridge the gap.

Diagram

The first consideration was approach. AIM decided it had to be bold. Strong colours and strong...