Beijing and Shanghai-based architecture practice CLOU architects has designed its new Beijing office, featuring brightly-lit interiors contrasting warm tones with wood in Beijing, China.

Named CLOU Beijing Office, the 388-square-metre interiors have doubled in size to occupy half a tower floorplate on the 17th floor within the familiar surroundings of Sanlitun SOHO.

Offering flexible workspaces for complementary forms of collaboration, the interiors are designed with a fully glazed facade offering sweeping views across Sanlitun and into the mountains of North Eastern Beijing.

The spaces feature cool and clean lines to define different zones of work, communication, research, and display. All spaces are connected by CLOU’s signature silver galvanized walls – a feature tying all spaces together since the office’s inception.

The studio uses black and white materials and furnishings to create a sharp contrast with warm wood and color accents, softly mirrored in the reflection of the steel. 

"Hot-dip galvanized steel sheet (SGCC) is widely used in industrial engineering, but mainly revolves around household appliances," said CLOU architects.

"To date, galvanized steel panels have provided all CLOU offices with flexibility and multi-use surfaces." 

"The material’s sharp and cool appearance, its non-directional surface pattern, and its magnetic properties render the surfaces of the functional wall and furniture cladding a versatile canvas for all displayed representations of our design processes," the studio added.

From the main entrance through to the design floor and the communal areas, the softly distorting reflections emphasize industrious brightness in a connective gesture.

Brand identity

Entering the galvanized steel-covered entrance, the right side appears as an open office area, and the left side contains a model workshop. The two zones are connected by a stepped display area, the reception area, and a public corridor.

The CLOU logo, as part of the brand identity, is presented on the walls of the three areas in a variety of materials and sizes. The black and silver graphic logo showcases the firm's bold and creative image.

On-site trying and testing

Brightly lit, open office zones are complemented by a variety of meeting rooms for in-person and virtual encounters. Each space infuses its own characteristics – the boardroom with its glass enclosure around bright blue flooring and warm orange-red fabric, a more intimate conference space with warm wood furniture on speckled green terrazzo, and a cave-like, all-wood retreat for quiet work and conversation.  

Terrazzo is the characteristic element providing rhythm and dynamics to the multidimensional expanse of our most common projects: convivial neighborhood malls that bring communities together.

CLOU’s new Beijing office references this material, transferring it from the bright floors of our retail spaces in order to introduce it as a means of territorial definition: open office areas are laid out to zone common and shared spaces in gleaming brightness, while meeting spaces encapsulate in subtle accent colors. Boldly striped contrast patterns create spatial dynamics in the lively community and circulation axis.

A proper workshop occupies a large area of the office: in a zone for model-making, design tests, and material research, the wood-clad environment integrates workbenches and 3D machinery with library storage and archive rooms.

Flexible furnishings allow for quick conversion into a photo studio or a mini-auditorium for inter-office presentations.

Stepped display areas connect workplace and workshop along a communal meeting zone: where steel and wood intersect, models of projects past, present, and future showcase progress and variety, while benchmarking possibility and quality.

Floor plan

CLOU architects also designed the Sanya Farm Lab with a gridded exoskeleton that blurs foundries between inside and outside.

Project facts

Project name: CLOU Beijing Office

Type: Workplace Interior Design

Location: Beijing, China. 

Construction Area: 387.53 sqm

Interior Design: CLOU architects.

Design Team: Jan Clostermann, Lin Li, Yadi Zhong, Sebastian Loaiza, Haiwei Xie

Construction Team: Jingwei Decor

Galvanized Steel Panel: Huihaiyuan Galvanized Steel

Marine Board: Naimeili.wood635

Terrazzo: Yongfa Stone 

All images © Banye Lin

All drawings © CLOU architects

> via CLOU architects