SOHO 3Q

SOHO 3Q

Formation	February 2015
Founders	Zhang Xin, Pan Shiyi
Headquarters	Beijing, China
Parent organization	SOHO China
Website	www.soho3q.com

SOHO 3Q is a prime community-focused, shared office space in China managed by SOHO China, the country’s largest prime-office real estate company co-founded by tycoon couple, Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi. It is headquartered at Chaowai SOHO in Beijing, China.^[1] As of July 2016, the coworking space had 12 spaces in China, five in Beijing and seven in Shanghai.^[2]

History

3Q is a new project developed by the real estate company SOHO China. Although the company was founded in 1995, it underwent a fundamental paradigm shift in 2012 from a build-to-sell to a build-to-hold business strategy. This change was partly in response to the changing situation of the real estate market in China and there were calls within the company to consider new projects to remain competitive. According to the CEO, the company first contemplated the idea of a co-working space in August 2014 in line with other companies part of the sharing economy landscape such as Airbnb and Uber.^[3]

After detailed research on 30 internet companies,^[4] real estate tycoon and company chairman, Pan Shiyi announced the 3Q project in January 2015. Considered to be "Act 3" for the company, the initiative is meant to also cater to a large number of small- and medium-sized companies that no longer rent long-term office space and instead prefer to rent for a week, a month or half a year.^[5] The first two spaces - Wangjing 3Q in Beijing and Fuxing 3Q in Shanghai opened on February 1, 2016.^[6] At that time, 3Q become the largest coworking space in China with about 1500 seats and spurred the subsequent growth of a range of local coworking spaces and options.

In April 2016, Guanghualu II 3Q opened in CBD Beijing with more than 3000 seats and Guanghualu II is the largest space of 3Q as the brand’s flagship store.

Fuxing 3Q in Shanghai

Growth

3Q was launched in February 2015 and rapidly expanded across China from two locations and 1,500 desks to more than 10,000 desks in 11 locations in Beijing and Shanghai. The first tenants of 3Q were two girls doing movie production, and now it hosts a wide range of Chinese firms with hundreds of staff members such as LeTV and Meituan,^[5] as well as large international companies like Uber which are rapidly expanding in China. The company maintains that demand for such flexible office spaces will remain strong due to China’s culture of technological innovation and entrepreneurship, and “the waves of Western-educated young Chinese students returning to China to make the most of the economy's booming opportunities and start their own businesses.^[7]”

Architecture and Design

3Q’s parent company, albeit a real estate firm, is also very involved with architecture and design and has become famous for transforming Beijing’s skyline with universally recognizable SOHO buildings.^[8] Wangjing SOHO, one of the first 3Q spaces, was designed by Zaha Hadid architects and led by the Pritzker prize winning architect and founder Zaha Hadid. The building, which is LEED-certified and is meant to look like a small mountain range, designates some of the middle floors to 3Q coworking, occupying 6,000 square meters.^[9] Each seat is rented at 1,000 yuan ($160) per desk per week. Another early building, Fuxing 3Q, was designed by German GMP Architecture and Dutch AIM Architecture and opened with a price of 560 yuan ($93) per desk per week.

The largest 3Q space, also considered by some to be the largest coworking space in the world,^[7] Guanghualu SOHO II, was built by the same German GMP Architecture, occupying about 21,000 square meters of floor space and containing over 3300 desks.^[10] The space was initially meant to be a large shopping mall but was converted into a massive coworking space by the architectural firm. Distinctive features of this central 3Q include a giant oak staircase which frames a venue for events and lectures and a second atrium called The Park, a common meeting spot surrounded by standing bamboo and glass meeting rooms.^[11] It is located in the Central Business District and has 3 floors of tenants. Most of 3Q’s traditionally designed spaces celebrate the white color, are modern and display the signature orange logo.

Another building, Galaxy SOHO also hosts a 3Q and was designed by Zaha Hadid architects. It celebrates the white color that has become recognizable with other SOHO buildings and is meant to act as an outer gate for the city.

Facilities

3Q provides both private offices and individual workstations in an open-office layout. Tenants are allowed to rent individual desks on a weekly basis. Additional services available to tenants include free WIFI, conference rooms, printing machines and phone booths.^[12] 3Q also organizes events such as "Pan's Dialogue", where chairman Pan Shiyi discusses entrepreneurship with well-known business personalities such as Xiaomi's Chairman Lei Jun, and entrepreneur Kai-Fu Lee.^[13]

Offices may be booked via the 3Q mobile application or in person. The app can also be used to book a tour, reserve a desk or a conference room, extend leases and make payments.

References