The Work Project entered the premium coworking market in Hong Kong in 2016 with the Bean Buro-designed The Work Project Midtown in Causeway Bay. It expanded to Singapore last year with The Work Project OUE Downtown. The 1,800-sqm space is a sleek tribute of Singapore’s black-and-white bungalows designed by HASSELL. 

The Work Project hit the ground running this year. So far it has opened two new locations and is in the process of completing another one. The Work Project Bugis at the Parkview Square building, also designed by HASSELL, reinforces the coworking brand’s strong approach to hospitality with its sleek, art-deco inspired interior that complement the Parkview Square building.

“Creating unique design concepts on each location is very important to us,” said The Work Project’s Founder and Managing Director Junny Lee, speaking at the preview of the brand’s latest offering, The Work Project Capital Tower. “Each must fits the architecture of the building and the community that we are looking to serve,” he added.

For each location, The Work Project conceptualised the space by engaging its future tenants and landlord. An in-house design team then created the design brief and the floor planning, before deciding on which design consultants are the most suitable for the project. 

The Work Project Capital Tower is a brainchild of The Work Project and landlord CapitaLand. It comprises an Innovation Hub designed by M Moser Associates, which offers various office and meeting room settings, and an exclusive business club named MARK, also designed by HASSELL. 

At Capita Tower’s level 24 Innovation Hub, visitors are received in the communal area dressed in pastel tones with a majestic skyline view. The space branches out to a series of offices, meeting spaces and workshop room with various capacities furnished with custom-made furniture and the latest office suites from Steelcase.  

The concept of MARK, the exclusive members-only business lounge on level 20, was conceived from a series of discussions with CapitaLand’s C-suite community. Emerged from the discussions was the need to have a private hosting environment. MARK is offered as a complimentary amenity to the C-Suite members of The Work Project and tenants of CapitaLand. “You have to have made a mark to access MARK,” quipped Lee. 

MARK has been strategically zoned to deliver members a variety of spaces that a corporate executive may need during, and after, their workday. ‘Privacy’ and ‘exclusivity’ were keywords in the design brief. Shared Lee, “The difference between MARK and other exclusive social clubs is that we intentionally create an environment that’s almost, slightly anti-social.” 

At the centre of the plan is the Champagne room, around which other spaces are arranged. By placing the room in the middle of the space, HASSELL creates pockets and nooks of contained spaces in which members can entertain or wind down in private and or relative anonymity, instead of having a wide open space where anyone can be recognised upon entering.

“Our members don’t want to walk into an environment where they can recognise or be recognised and need to go around the room shaking everyone’s hands. They want a hosting environment where they can bring a guest into a private setting and not be bothered by their surrounding,” shared Lee. 

The Champagne Room

The amenities include a library that can double as a meeting room, and a bar, whose design brief was, in Lee’s words “feels almost better when it’s empty than when it’s full.” He added: “Customers  told us [The Work Project and CapitaLand]: ‘We would really love a swanky bar in our office with a beautiful cocktail menu and selection of wine but we lack the resource and expertise – can you do it for us, as our landlord?’ So we created this bar. This is their bar in this building.” 

The bar at MARK

Yet, for all its emphasis on exclusivity and the demography of its members, walking into MARK feels like walking into a (very luxurious) home. Custom-made furniture pieces upholstered with Pierre Frey fabrics and handcrafted crystal decanters from Venice are paired with rattan screens, bright handpainted shelves, and mismatched silverware.

The bar serves craft cocktails curated by Proof & Co and boasts a considerable collection of rare wines, yet the main attraction in the menu is a selection of gourmet hot dogs, and each table is equipped with silver condiment rack packed with Heinz’s ketchup and mustard. 

MARK’s lounge

It’s a deliberate approach. Shared Lee: “There’s something sexy about serving something humble and elevate it into something really sophisticated in this environment.” MARK can host up to 50 people, and so far The Work Projects has signed 200 members. Lee projected that a member may use the space one or twice a week. The Work Project has plans to open similar business clubs in other CapitaLand buildings and future The Work Projects, should the location fits. 

Another HASSELL-The Work Project collaboration is set to open soon. The Work Project Asia Square Tower 2 will span over 41,000 square feet and will feature a vertical garden by celebrity botanist Patric Blanc and a rotating art gallery.

Asked about The Work Project’s growing list of collaborations with HASSELL, Lee shared: “We don’t only work with one designer, it just so happens that HASSELL is really good at what they do… Our objective is to create the concept up to the floor planning and then work with the best, those who can do Picasso on the canvas that we’ve given them.”

Beyond Singapore, The Work Project has set its sight Tokyo, Melbourne and Sydney and continued to search for the designers who can create the next Picasso on their future canvas. 

Photography by E. K. Yap, courtesy of The Work Project.