dubai, united arab emirates
Unbox Black Label
client
unbox INC
Date
May 2024
Services
Interior Design
dubai, united arab emirates
Unbox Black Label
client
unbox INC
Date
May 2024
Services
Interior Design
dubai, united arab emirates
Unbox Black Label
Client
unbox INC
Date
May 2024
Services
Interior Design
The Brief
The market was asking for something new. A growing category of established companies — regional headquarters, family offices, senior professional practices — needed workspace that was more than a co-working desk but less than a full corporate lease. Fully branded, fully fitted, fully serviced, and unmistakably premium. Working closely with Unbox management, Ten Eight helped shape the answer: a new executive office concept, positioned on the 36th floor of API Trio Tower, overlooking Palm Jumeirah and the Downtown Dubai skyline. Six executive suites ranging from 100 to 150 square metres — each self-contained, with its own manager's cabin, private meeting room, open workstation zone, storage, phone booth, and printer station. A central reception anchors the floor, with a shared boardroom behind it, integrated library walls, considered seating, a shared pantry, and a bespoke premium washroom completing the amenity offering. The commission was as much a product-development exercise as a design brief. Ten Eight was asked to help shape a new workspace typology from the ground up — one that would justify a materially higher price point, deliver a genuinely elevated experience, and set a template that could be scaled to further locations.
The Approach
We resolved the brief through a single, governing design decision: a refined monochrome composition of deep black veneer and graphite, warmed by strategic camel-leather accents — a palette that reads as premium from the moment you step onto the floor. The recognisable Unbox geometric design language is retained as the structural backbone — its rigour and identity still very much present — but reinterpreted through a darker, richer material vocabulary that signals exclusivity without announcement. Black veneer joinery, precision millwork, and subtle inlay give the floor its rhythm and character.Rather than dispersing ancillary functions across the plan, we embedded the full programme within each suite using a bespoke geometrically patterned joinery system — a "pushed-in" approach where meeting rooms, phone booths, print stations, and storage are sculpted into the joinery runs themselves.
The Approach
This keeps each workspace generous and uncluttered, circulation effortless, and allows the joinery to function simultaneously as architectural feature and service backbone. Two roles, one element — no wasted space, no visual noise. The central reception is the defining spatial moment. An illuminated Unbox logo sits behind a sculptural white reception counter with integrated cove lighting, framed by sculpted geometric wall panels and warm camel-leather seating pods with lit shelving that soften the darker palette. Behind the reception, the shared boardroom is anchored by integrated library walls and curated display shelving — a signature amenity that gives the floor the gravitas of a full corporate suite. The bespoke washroom carries the same standard of finish and detail as the rest of the floor. Everything performs. Nothing announces itself.
The Outcome
Floor 36 of API Trio Tower is the definitive expression of the Unbox model at its most refined. Six self- contained executive suites, each delivering a complete corporate environment within 100 to 150 square metres — elevated through material depth, bespoke detailing, and considered planning into something the market had not seen before. The commercial result speaks for itself. All six suites were rented within one year of opening — a decisive validation of the product, the design, and the strategic thinking behind it. Ten Eight and Unbox are now developing the concept further for future locations. This project marks the seventh Unbox branch Ten Eight has delivered since the brand's inception — a partnership built on years of listening to the market, refining the product, and growing the Unbox community together.
