ABB headquarter office is to consolidate the various offices in Beijing and house them in a single building. This is not only to have a more centralize management and control, but also project a more holistic corporate identity to all customers. The whole office consists of 8 storey office with 1 level basement to house laboratories and supporting functions, while basement 2 is solely for carparking. Level 1 is the reception, showroom, university and café area, level 2 is the conference pool with more than 10 meeting rooms, conference rooms and board room. Shared touchdown is also here, therefore, this is a floor of semi-public and semi-private floor. The rest of the floors from level 3 to 8 are internal offices.

The whole design tries to provide a brand-new working style to ABB. Nowadays, the working style is not only fixed on the workstation, instead, various working environment with focus, leisure, discussion areas are provided for staff to select the most suitable working environment for them. At the same time, a spatial quality of Beijing Hutong of open and wandering spatial quality is introduced in the office. People is strolling on the street alleys to find a nice working place like café, restaurant, library… and can spend time in working over hours. This can encourage communication, discussion and idea sharing which is a very good working pattern, particularly suitable for some innovative companies like ABB. The color not just deliver a great visual impact but also have a mental influence to staff. The colorful environmental has provide a relaxing and energetic ambience which can stimulate the working momentum and thus increase the productivity. The building composes of 7 floors of working office and conference facilities; therefore, 7 colors from the rainbow are dedicating to the whole building with each color signify one particular floor. Red assign to the top floor, then the purple color represents the lowest floor. Each floor has its own identity color and all furniture, wall, carpet will base on such color to explore a harmony combination. The whole design language follows a more modern and simplicity style which reflects the dominate aesthetic value of nowadays, such simplicity style provides a clean and comfortable feeling to all ABB staff. Such new working style and function like phone booth, train seat, think tank, bar tables provide a various and new experience of working style. People can base on their needs to find the suitable working place and pattern. It breaks away the traditional and rigid working style, encourage more communication, discussion and idea sharing.

The productivity of such new concept office raised 50% by adopting such flexible seat arrangement. All people have a free working pattern. The expense on the rent and fixed office facility will drop accordingly. This increase the competitive edge when compare with other similar business.

Communication is the most important organized aspect for new offices nowadays. Although individual work can be executed anywhere, the exchange of information and know-how remain an essential means of finding solutions to complicated problems and learning new knowledge. The collective intelligence and enthusiasm can be promoted by establishing an environment to promote the need of private space and creating a positive and pleasant atmosphere. Multiplicities of spatial structures include individual, group, and open-scheme office and multi-purpose areas to work together in a variety of methods and in flexible configurations.

The project is in charged by three core teams including interior, E/M and QS. In the beginning, the design team will work closely with client to provide options of layout, 3D rendering, material sample to settle the design proposal. Once confirmation is granted, the project management team will work with E/M engineers and QS to have construction drawing and quotation for client approval. During construction stage, designer and engineer will closely monitor the project progress to ensure due completion. Regular and ad-hoc meeting will arrange to ensure good communication to solve site problem.

1. The construction fee is 25 million with 6-month construction time 2. The interior fitting out part of the ABB Beijing Office is designed by DPWT Design Ltd. 3. The design process of the office is as follows: 1) Site inspection and discussion with client: DPWT carry out site inspection to have an understanding of site condition. Communication with the client to understand their needs and prepare the onwards design concept. 2) Layout plans and renderings: According to the result of site survey and the communication with the client, DPWT then prepare the drawings and renderings with internal review. The final confirmation is granted after around 3-4 presentations. 3) Construction drawings and selection of materials: the construction drawing was prepared after the approval of layout plans and renderings by client. 4) Phasing of construction: regular site inspection is conducted in weekly basis 5) Completion of construction and opening: the final outcome receives a very positive feedback from client.

The project inception to completion is in an extremely tight schedule of 6 months. During this period, numerous meeting, presentation and discussion are carried out at the same among designer, engineer, client and other vendor including furniture, carpet, security. The due completion of this project is a strong evidence of a well-organized project and design team.

1. The final outcome of this project receives a very positive feedback from client and the other ABB office in different locations in China adopted this new type of workplace model. 2. The success of this project not only enhances DPWT's status in the client side, but also underpinning a good cooperation foundation between the two parties in the future. 3. The design effect of this project, not only acts as an advertising project to showcase DPWT design ability, but also provides the potential business opportunities for DPWT in joint projects with other companies