Anglo-Eastern: A Nautical Workplace Poised Above Singapore’s Coast
Anglo-Eastern sets its 37,000-square-foot Singapore office across two floors as a confident continuation of the brand’s Hong Kong headquarters. Designed by Bean Buro, the workplace folds maritime cues into a contemporary corporate setting without losing focus on day-to-day work rhythms. The result is a clear, agile composition that moves from reception to social hub to quieter zones while keeping the sea in view and the company’s legacy front and center.
Light pours across the reception floor, sliding over a sculptural desk with gentle curves. The glow catches navy surfaces and warm timber, easing visitors from city pace to maritime calm.
This is an office for a global ship manager, set in Singapore and designed by Bean Buro, and its story is told through color, tactility, and crafted forms. The throughline is simple and disciplined, turning naval references into daily tools for work and welcome.
Cast Maritime Palette
A concise palette carries the identity from threshold to workfloor. Dark navy and crisp white anchor the scheme, paired with warm timber and measured hits of burgundy that lend weight without heaviness. Surfaces run matte to reduce glare and keep light soft across desks and joinery, reinforcing focus over gloss. The colors read as intentional rather than thematic, drawing from uniforms and hulls while staying firmly inside a modern workplace.
Shape Bespoke Furniture
Curved elements set the tone at the front door. The reception desk, collaboration tables, and select joinery take on hull-like profiles with softened edges and tight radii, a quiet nod to shipbuilding craft. Detailing pulls from rivet logic and panel junctions, translated into precise joints that register under the hand more than the eye. Digital modeling and physical mock-ups ensure each curve meets straight runs cleanly, keeping the room legible and calm.
Map Arrival To Work
Movement flows from an open, light reception into a field of work points paced by collaboration islands. Paths avoid hard diagonals and work with soft arcs, so circulation reads fluid rather than linear. The pantry lands as a social hinge with views toward the water, blending hospitality cues and daily rituals to encourage easy gathering. It acts like a harbor, where colleagues pause, reset, and head back to task.
Light The Social Hub
Natural light drives the project’s mood. Full-height glazing lifts the reception and pantry, while a metallic ceiling element with a water-ripple texture catches and scatters daylight across counters and tabletops. The shimmer is subtle yet memorable, turning an ordinary break into a sensory moment. Wall-mounted ship bells and curated maritime photography punctuate the scene, small artifacts that tighten the link between brand and daily life.
Quiet The Open Plan
Acoustic dividers with soft surfaces temper chatter without walling off teams. Their placement protects heads-down work and still preserves sightlines for quick check-ins and cross-desk exchanges. Breathing materials and natural textures add tactile relief around longer tasks, supporting comfort over a full day. The result is conversation at a humane volume and focus without isolation.
Refine For Place
The palette adapts to Singapore’s bright light. Navy reads deeper near glazing, white stays crisp at cores, and timber bridges the two with a stable mid-tone. Across two floors and 37,000 square feet, these calibrations help the office maintain clarity from morning glare to late-afternoon shade. The language echoes work in Hong Kong, but tone and finish shift to suit this latitude.
Build With Precision
Delivery spans collaboration between the Hong Kong studio and a Singapore team. Remote coordination sharpens drawings, schedules, and mock-ups, and that discipline shows in tidy junctions and repeatable modules. Bespoke pieces read consistent from lobby to workfloor, so the composition holds together under close view. Consistency breeds calm, and calm supports decision-making when the day runs hot.
As the day cools, light flattens and surfaces soften. Timber warms, navy deepens, and that rippled ceiling keeps a trace of movement overhead. In the end, material and craft carry the brand forward without a raised voice.
Photography courtesy of Bean Buro
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