Al Jazeera HQ

The design of the new Al Jazeera Media Network broadcast
office and studio facility is a successful collaboration
between John McAslan + Partners, as interior designers of
the office, and Veech X Veech, as designers of the
broadcast news studio and adjacent newsroom work
environment.

In November 2012 Al Jazeera Media Network appointed the
team to design a new broadcast centre at The Shard, an
opportunity to reinforce the network’s brand identity.

The scheme creates a pre-eminent broadcast production
centre facility, incorporating innovative workspaces and
offices with a state-of-the-art studio and newsroom and an
adjacent open-plan 45-person newsroom workspace. The
new studio optimises the iconic London skyline, breaking the
trend of the traditional ‘black box’ studio. A day-lit studio is
unusual within broadcasting - the project is a notable
breakthrough in studio and lighting design.

Housed in Western Europe’s tallest building, the facility,
used to create news and current affairs content across the
AJMN broadcast platforms, signals the importance of the
AJMN news organization within the UK and European
marketplace. Al Jazeera required an open, innovative and
flexible office and studio environment, adaptable to suit the
organisation’s changing needs.

The project challenges the way news is made, unusually
integrating the broadcast studio and office space within an
open-plan setting. Al Jazeera’s Global Art Director, Patrick
Bedeau, has pioneered this innovative approach, bridging
the gap between programme making and the physical space
to create what is currently the most technologically
advanced production facility. The new studio has set a
benchmark for global TV design, a test-bed pushing the
limits of what is possible. Locating all departments and
services on a single floor has enabled the design teams to
develop innovative uses of space and create a more efficient
and pleasant working environment, like nothing else in the
TV news industry.