YTL Headquarters

UNIFYING PRESENCE

YTL is a large Malaysian conglomerate, whose 1000 key staff across 12 departments (each with its own culture and operations), are housed under 1 roof, for the first time. The brief was to provide a unifying presence on the shared floors, portraying a unified spatial identity for their staff to align with. We sought to create a series of choreographed spatial experiences which balance respecting YTL’s legacy of corporate professionalism, infused with a future-forward attitude that embraces change.

At the Ground Floor, visitors are greeted by a vertically cavernous lobby which spans more than 25-meters in height (7 floors). The design challenge was how to enhance the majestic quality of the space, yet not dwarf the human scale and provide a welcoming entrance. As such, the lobby is a study in proportion, light control and a disciplined use of materials. The soaring space has been designed to capture the rays of light in the daytime, glowing like a lantern in the evening.

We designed the marble-clad columns such that its rhythm is denser and grounded at the bottom, yet getting lighter towards the top, giving the impression of ascending lightness, and inserted horizontal striations using bronze accents to provide visual relief rather than a continuous ascension to the top. A glittering art installation hovers like a cloud over a series of pavilion niches, which provide a sense of human scale in this vast space. Titled “Leaves”, this hanging art sculpture features similar bronze accents, and is fabricated by Studio Sawada.

Levels 8-10 provide a myriad of meeting spaces for YTL staff and external visitors. Ranging from casual café tables, semi-enclosed & enclosed rooms, to large multi-function conference rooms, the spaces are designed with a warm and sophisticated palette, with bronze powder coated metal, oak timber, grey granite, silver mink marble floors and tactile leather furniture. To introduce connectivity between Levels 8 and 9, we introduced a void and a feature spiral stair, designing an arresting and dynamic cage-like stair with vertical rods made of powder-coated bronze metal, sitting on a bed of black gravel.