This office amazingly has a floating conference room rising out of water

Check out how Masan's first international office in Singapore is cleverly designed to reflect its roots along the Mekong River in Vietnam.

Singapore Business Review interviewed Christine Ho, Business Development Manager at M Moser, to learn more about the design of Masan's office at Level 5 OUE Bayfront, located in and facing Singapore’s prestigious Marina Bay.

SBR: Who was the client? What were the needs/requests of the client for their office space?
Masan Group is Vietnam’s largest private sector holdings company. It acquires and manages market-leading businesses in many of the fastest growing sectors of Vietnam’s economy, particularly in the areas of consumer products, financial services, and resources.

This space in Singapore is Masan’s first international office, and heralds the firm’s arrival on the world stage, as well as connecting the world to its CEO and its partners.

As a showcase of the firm’s pioneering vision and values, and in reference to its Vietnamese origins, much of the office is apportioned to expansive reception and meeting spaces that deliver a breathtaking sense of arrival for staff and visitors alike.

SBR: What is significant/unique about this project?
The office space features ample use of glass and water to maximise natural light and create a sense of transparency and connectedness. The front of house constitutes almost half of the 5,033 sq-ft space, with the main conference room conceived as a floating pavilions rising out of water, referencing Masan’s roots along the Mekong River in Ho Chi Minh City.

Other functional necessities in the brief were an open-plan work space for approximately 10 staff, and a small number of enclosed offices. Glass partitions ensure a seamless transition between the front and back of house.

SBR: Please give us a brief description of the space after the refurbishments.
The finished design makes its impression the moment one steps out of the lift. The reception area is expansive, with two-thirds of its area covered by a shimmering water feature. Sculptural Masan logos emerge like stepping stones from the water’s rippling surface, drawing visitors’ eyes toward both the office’s architectural focal point and, just beyond, a city and bay vista visible through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Also floating on the water feature is the conference room, a simple transparent glass-encased space atop a timber ‘raft’. The design’s painstaking attention to detail and finish is at its most impressive here: to make a near-seamless transition between floor and water, just 3mm separates the two elements.

Visual surprises also await elsewhere in this otherwise contemporary, sharply-defined environment. Structural columns throughout the space feature ‘peeled back’ sections inset with indirectly lit, geometrical reliefs. These break up the column’s monolithic forms and add a touch of detail to a palette dominated by the neutral hues of wood and stone, and the cool transparency of glass.

SBR: Tell us about the firm or the team who worked on this project.
Project Director: Nirmala Srinivasa
Design Leader: Ziggy Bautisa
Senior Designer: Eliza Reyes
Construction Management: Adam Bentley
Mechanical & Electrical: John Chen, Kenneth Chiam

For property design companies who want to submit a project involving recent developments/refurbishments in offices in Singapore, kindly send an email to sbr@charltonmedia.com with this subject: SUBMISSION FOR SBR OFFICE WATCH FROM (name of firm). Thanks.