As a global direct selling company that primarily provides people with health products based on traditional Chinese herbal health culture, Infinitus embraces “Si Li Ji Ren” as a vital enterprise culture since its establishment and fulfilled into brand building and development for years. Infinitus has attracted many partners from different fields by means of diverse development and globalization in recent years. Steelcase and Infinitus takes full account of employees’ working need, embedding flexibility and agility into the workplace with widespread use of colors. We committed to create an organic workplace where people can enjoy not only passion and collaboration but also privacy and independence.

Architectural landmark is more than a representation of urban culture, it also introduces the aesthetics of modern metropolis and boosts future development in social culture and economy.

Embracing Infinitus enterprise spirit of “Si Li Ji Ren” (Considering collective benefits before acting), Infinitus worked with Steelcase to create a new workplace in the post-Covid world and support Guangzhou Infinitus to usher in New Era of Hybrid Work. In 2021, Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza, located in Baiyun New Town, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, was completed and formally put into service. Designed by Zaha Hadid and her Team, Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza integrates creativity with connectivity, applying spiritual ideas into physical architecture. Well-known enterprises at home and abroad, as well as small and medium-sized companies jointly accomplished this splendid and anticipated construction project. Within five years from project initiation in 2016 to accomplishment in November, 2021, Infinitus conducted several researches internally and found employees having many expectations for a more open, more free, more comfortable, more collaborative, and more diversified office design. Therefore, Infinitus collected information from all sides and made great efforts to create a modern workplace which can meet employees’ needs on working and wellness.

Steelcase abandoned traditional mindset in workplace design, assisting Infinitus to decode a modern workplace. Relying on Infinitus’ rapid development in recent years, the brand new Infinitus Plaza has been expanded to accommodate 2500 people, including over 120 meeting rooms in different sizes and plenty of informal spaces. Infinitus chose Steelcase again and explored together to meet people’s need and create the best workplace. Now, Infinitus Plaza has a large number of public areas and ample informal spaces, especially lots of meeting rooms. So furniture design should be considered from employee’s feelings and needs, introducing more Steelcase products and jointly creating the most contemporary new workplace for employee’s expectations.

Steelcase invited Lin Xianda (Infinitus HR & Admin Manager) and Zhang Qiuping (Infinitus HR & Admin Deputy Director) to share stories behind this cooperation with us.

To fulfill space utilization and diverse applications required by Infinitus, Steelcase integrated palettes and flexibility with every space and every corner, revealing its unique design ingenuity.

‘We simply used in-between spaces for food or connection. But now we have more applications helping us connect anytime, carry out focused work, or simply work independently, which provide people with enjoyable convenience from new spaces.’

Embracing Diversity, Initiating Infinitus

When initiating the project, Infinitus expected to witness its design ever-lasting and functional across next 10 to 15 years, helping users flexibly shift among different working modes through various spaces. Spatial and physical boundaries with careful layout and distance consideration were set between the workplace and informal area, ensuring the side-by-side activities against interfering each other. Therefore, daily work in resident workstations wouldn’t be interrupted by people connections from adjacent areas, as well as ensuring a long-term efficient use in the future.

The understated design concept explains a perfect-match among floors, shared spaces and silhouettes through the whole building. Different palettes and furniture in different areas or floors provide divergent experiences even though the spatial design is highly similar throughout the architecture. Elegant color schemes can foster a positive environment so that everyone will be more engaged into work, while also enhancing space vitality and making employees feel more energetic.

Co-Working

Co-Working is the first principle in Infinitus project. Colleagues relied on private spaces to improve their productivity. But Co-Working is approved to be a more effective way in the modern workplace to achieve the greater efficiency. Therefore, a combination of dedicated spaces and collaborative spaces in Infinitus can support teamwork and focus work simultaneously.

“Air³ pod located in the reception lobby makes the whole area look magnificent, creating a space for open communication or private conversation. This freestanding room is equipped with automatic sensing lights, PIR controlled roof and smooth door-closing rail, providing people a place with huge surprise and satisfaction. So we placed this highly acclaimed and recognized Steelcase product in centrally location, people can easily see it with a simple glance once entering the workplace.”

Infinitus believed that too many meeting rooms count against the space utilization in consideration of frequent Co-Working scenarios. Therefore, Steelcase introduced Air³ pod to create a flexible space for small teams to collaborate and communicate in privacy. Infinitus also placed Air³ pod in the most conspicuous position of in-between area, which allows staff to communicate quickly and efficiently in it.

Navigating What’s Next – hybrid work is becoming more challenging

A growing number of domestic companies shift to hybrid work in recent years. Working from home are more easily seen especially during the pandemic. As a new workplace paradigm for modern society, Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza are committed to creating a pioneering space which can meet employees’ ever-changing needs and integrate hybrid work with traditional modes. Hybrid trends somewhat affect corporations like infinitus where collective work predominates. Much work can be done online, but face-to-face communication and discussion can not be replaced due to their high efficiency. Therefore, we had considered lots of perspectives when planning the workplace. For example, per capita area is quite considerable, so just making room more spacious, and it also helps epidemic prevention and control. Of course, assigned workstations will not be expelled. Steelcase and Infinitus not only support employee’s solo work need but also provide team with adequate communal spaces for collaboration, increasing social distance and decreasing disease transmission.