Agree that shophouses have a boring layout, but they are much cheaper than all the other options so we can ge more space for the same budget. I think we can compensate the boring layout by an interesting interior design concept that involves furniture, wall decoration, separators, a light concept and so on. Most shophouses don't do anything of that and look boring. One of the True cafes in Siam Square is basically a shophouse but the managed to give it a lot of flair. I think one person mentioned a contact to an interior designer that we can use.

Shophouse seems the most practical option. Fixing up the inside of the space should be one of our first group projects after we do all of the legwork to get the space. People experienced in interior design would be a great asset in the discussion. Lots of pictures of what others have done for us to have a good idea to innovate our own design. Plus, we also should have a 'base' to start our design from what free stuff we might get at the start.

i don't really think it's such a big deal to get the flair. paint the walls with colors != white, dedicate a wall for some artwork, install indirect lighting of different kinds, nice furniture and i think thats almost it. if you walk through retail stores with that in mind you can see they all use some common ways to get atmosphere. no rocket science here.

Definitely not rocket science BUT this is our chance to innovate as well. I already have done some research for innovative high-tech office space that my organization might create. Have you thought about 'white board' wall paint? Or magnetic wall paint? Here is the link to the whiteboard wallpaint: Ideapaint - http://www.ideapaint.com/work/ideapaint/ (comes in colors other than white)