New Soundcloud Headquarters

New Soundcloud Headquarters

KINZO Berlin

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

ARCHITECTS  
KINZO Berlin

ROOM ACOUSTICS
Akustikbüro Rahe & Kraft GmbH

LIGHTING DESIGN
Dinnebier + Blieske

COOPERATION
Manfred Kaiser, Laura Liberal, Stefanie Pesel, Ina Podzimek, David Schumm, Susanne Trumpf, Nora Zimmermann

PROJECT LEADER
Timo Nerger

PHOTOGRAPHS 
Werner Huthmacher

AREA  
4000.0 m²

YEAR  
2014

LOCATION
Berlin, Germany

CATEGORY  
Offices Interiors

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

Text description provided by architect.

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.

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

Anticipating future expansion of the rapidly growing SoundCloud platform, the spacious offices could potentially accommodate up to 350 desks.

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.

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

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.

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
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© 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.

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.

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

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.

The only substantial alteration to the structure’s original architecture can be found between the two lower-most levels:

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

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
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© 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.

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
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© 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.

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

After all, KINZO likes to give all material dual starring roles.

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

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher

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.

New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher
New Soundcloud Headquarters
© Werner Huthmacher


New Soundcloud Headquarters
Floor Plan