White & Case

Completed in April 2022, the new White & Case Hong Kong office occupies three floors of York House. Planning and design presentations, material selections and furniture mock-ups were carried out over a period of ten months, prior to when construction commenced on site. Modeled on an ancient Chinese temple, the reception area at Level 16 was designed as an open gallery featuring a coffered ceiling that incorporates the base-building air conditioning and sprinklers, as well as the security and PA systems. Timber, leather and non-reflective antique mirror finishes were carefully selected to provide a neutral background for a number of contemporary artworks on display here, including:

Reminiscences of the South – by Wu Guanzhong

The Will of Time – a bespoke six-panel landscape by Chen Ying Jie

Boundless Scroll – by the sculptor Ren Zhe

The sculpture was specifically chosen to greet White & Case clients and visitors with an open, flowing document signifying the legal profession.

To see how The Will of Time was created, click here or here

Two six-person Meeting / Video Conferencing Rooms located on the west side of the floor can also be combined to create one large space. As with the Conference Rooms, all of the furniture here is modular and portable – for ease of operation – and finished in high-grade plastic laminate, for durability. To allow daylight to filter into the reception area, these rooms are fitted with proprietary JEB partitions and doors. For acoustic privacy, they are double glazed and a film coating was also installed for visual privacy after completion. The floor finish at all Meeting / Conference Rooms is a custom broadloom carpet in an abstract pattern selected by the firm’s partners.

At the southwest corner of Level 16 is the Café – a gathering place for both White & Case personnel and for Clients. With glass walls providing daylight on two sides, this space is directly accessible from the reception area and is also connected to the Conference Rooms with sliding doors that can be closed, when necessary, for visual and acoustic privacy, or left open during lunches, receptions and other events. A long banquette and loose tables / chairs provide ample places for dining. The herringbone timber floor used in the reception area flows into both Conference Rooms as well as into the Café, where it merges with bespoke ceramic tiles created for this project and which are also used at the reception counter. The island unit housing the coolers spans across the two floor finishes.As the Practice Floors at Levels 9 and 10 are not contiguous to the Front-of-House at Level 16, paneled ceiling details, lighting, and materials and finishes from the Conference Suite and Café were incorporated in the design of the Staff Lounges and Collaboration Areas at both floors. This includes the timber herringbone floor finish, Corian and marble countertops, and the use of “antiqued” glass – creating a visual link between all three floors.