Linehouse Transforms Shanghai Swimming Pool Into Office Space
Design studio Linehouse recently completed an amazing transformation project in Shanghai, redesigning an office block’s swimming pool into an additional office space.



The swimming pool originally designed by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox back in 2013 in the Jing’An Kerry Centre, was designed for use as part of the fitness facilities made available for workers in the centre. The transformed area is now designed as a wide convenient seating area, where staff can relax and work, or host clients. Businesses can also use the room to host corporate events and talks.
While the swimming pool area has been drained of water, it is still the main point of the room, and it is lined with flecked blue vinyl from flooring specialists Tarkett. Linehouse’s co-founder Alex Mok said the swimming pool area created a great opportunity to play with levels which normally an existing interior space does not allow.
While the studio preserved the huge oval skylight that lay directly above the pool, flights of steps that double up as seats have been built-in at the side of the pool, topped with baby-pink cushions. A semi-circular banquette upholstered in peachy-coloured leather has then been created at the far end of the pool.
Private phone booths with interiors lined with leaf-printed wallpaper from Calico are strategically placed in the room, thus providing quick access should workers need to take a call. Also featured is a small cafe anchored by a Ceppo Nova stone counter and a formal boardroom enclosed by a curved pane of glass.
- date publishedFebruary 2, 2021
- categoryArchitecture
- original sourceDezeen↗