New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Chair, TableNew Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Stairs, HandrailNew Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Windows, FacadeNew Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - TableNew Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - More Images+ 22

  • Responsible Partner: Karim El-Ishmawi, Martin Jacobs
  • Project Leader: Timo Nerger
  • Cooperation: Manfred Kaiser, Laura Liberal, Stefanie Pesel, Ina Podzimek, David Schumm, Susanne Trumpf, Nora Zimmermann
  • City: Berlin
  • Country: Germany
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Text description provided by the architects. The new headquarters of internationally renowned online platform SoundCloud cover three levels and approx. 4,000 square metres of an old brewery building close to the former Berlin Wall. The complex, designed to serve as a future incubator for up-and-coming start-ups, will become the one-stop office for all 180 Berlin employees of the foremost hub for musical exchange on the net. Anticipating future expansion of the rapidly growing SoundCloud platform, the spacious offices could potentially accommodate up to 350 desks.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Image 6 of 27
© Werner Huthmacher

To provide the company and its new HQ with a matching spatial identity and the right architectural framework for the platform’s novel business and working structures, SoundCloud asked KINZO to turn its new hub into a space that exudes and encourages innovation and creativity. The platform envisaged a welcome beacon in Berlin’s office landscape that both shapes the company and evolves with SoundCloud over the years. Against this background, KINZO’s conversion redefines the rules of office design with its tangible reflection of a virtual community.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Beam
© Werner Huthmacher

While KINZO’s design interventions retain the former factory’s industrial charm, they also emphasise the location’s characteristics to create just the right space for such a young and expanding business.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Beam, Handrail
© Werner Huthmacher

From open work spaces and café-meets-reception area to various themed rooms – each space at the new SoundCloud HQ promotes flexible use scenarios and the platform’s ingrained culture of constant creative exchange. Thanks to subtle accents and interventions, introduced according to need, the mood shifts from urban exchange to private retreat, from bustling public space to cosy living room.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Image 27 of 27
Floor Plan

In order to preserve the location’s factory feel, KINZO decided to retain the brewery’s raw appeal, leaving the building’s original brickwork and ceiling details exposed. Underscoring this aesthetic, all technical installations are clearly on display, snaking across the naked surfaces in an ornamental- meets-functional pattern that juxtaposes old and new.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Image 25 of 27
© Werner Huthmacher

The only substantial alteration to the structure’s original architecture can be found between the two lower-most levels: Here, a two-storey atrium and staircase now serves as the main hub of communication for the new SoundCloud universe. Versatile to the core, both space and fittings can adapt according to requirement – thanks to the flexible architecture, potential uses range from reception and bar to cinema, panel discussion and beyond.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Image 26 of 27
© Werner Huthmacher

At the same time – and in line with the platform’s ultimate aim – sound (or acoustics) remain the red thread of KINZO’s overall design concept.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Image 23 of 27
© Werner Huthmacher

A vital and oft-neglected aspect of any space, due to its functional, work-related and identity-defining significance, sound naturally takes pride of place in all SoundCloud-related considerations.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Table, Windows, Chair, Beam
© Werner Huthmacher

Here, KINZO once again experiments with further and playful uses to make the most of acoustic materi- als beyond their sound-optimising properties. Imbued with new life and meaning, they might resurface as cladding for the specially designed drop lights (“Krautleuchten”) or as abstracted sound waves and light diffusors nesting underneath the ceilings of shared spaces. After all, KINZO likes to give all material dual starring roles.

New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin - Image 21 of 27
© Werner Huthmacher

In this spirit, KINZO stays true to its holistic design approach with the SoundCloud HQ conversion and turns a heterogeneous use structure into a sound and cohesive concept. Drawing on their shared Berlin roots, the architects managed to supply the thriving start-up with just the right architectural foundations for future growth and (r)evolution.

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Address:Berlin, Germany

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "New Soundcloud Headquarters / KINZO Berlin" 09 Jul 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/522788/new-soundcloud-headquarter-kinzo-berlin> ISSN 0719-8884

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