Commercial
San José, Costa Rica
Sony Music's Central American headquarters in San José, designed as a hybrid workplace and performance venue — with acoustically treated flexible space, a reconfigurable stage, and interiors referencing the anatomy of string instruments.
Sony Music's Central American and Caribbean headquarters in San José occupies a building with sweeping views over the city and the national stadium. The brief called for more than a conventional office — Inverse convinced the client to create a space where work and music are genuinely intertwined. The result is a collaboration hub that converts from a quiet, acoustically treated workplace into a performance and press event venue at the push of a button. The centrepiece is a flexible stage built from movable elements: bleacher seating that reconfigures into a performance platform, designed to host small concerts, artist showcases, and media events in a space that feels like it belongs to the music industry.
Every design decision references the culture of recorded music. The entry ceiling is modelled on close-up photography of the interior of string instruments — the warm, ribbed geometry of a guitar or cello body translated into an architectural surface overhead. Cymbals repurposed as pendant light fixtures hang throughout the space. A wall of blank cassette tapes forms the accent element in the main conference room, a nod to the analogue era that shaped the industry. Sony Music's signature red runs through the project as a controlled accent colour, grounding the identity of the space without overwhelming it. Memorabilia locations are built into the architecture — dedicated display positions for instruments, records, and artefacts from artists across the label's catalogue. Graphics throughout were developed using imagery drawn directly from Sony Music's own photo archive, making the office a living document of the music it represents. Specialist acoustic design serves both sides of the programme: the quiet concentration of daily office work, and the clarity and presence a performance space demands.
