The brief is to accommodate around 70 workplaces for over 100 staff with ancillary functions like reception, meeting rooms, phone booths, pantry, and store room. The functional requirement is yet simple and straight forward. The high number of workstations requested in such small office demands for a very good spatial planning and zoning segregation. The budget is not high and is agreed to be around 3M RMB. Considering the office rental rate in China increase sharply in recent decades, the budget is the optimization of the cost and productivity. Due to the expensive labour and material cost in China in past decades, labour intensive work including interior and E/M construction constitute the major expense in the budget. On the other hand, furniture has a competitive price as more vendors can be sourced and mass production can trim down the cost.

It is a pre-requisite condition for new offices nowadays to be functional, efficient and yet delivering high productivity. However, besides these practical considerations, a wellness working environment should also be a very important issue in the design manifestation process. The balance of practicality and creativity is important in establishing a working model for office in this epoch. ABB, a leading technology giant company in the world, always stress on the importance of the wellness working conditions and such design concept is employed for their office in Xian.

It is a normal phenomenon in the traditional office that each office staff has a fixed working station. However, this workplace model is already outdated and cannot meet the rapid ABB office expansion, Hence we propose a more flexible seating system where some leisure type seating are provided at the central hub area of the office for the flexibility of office expansion. This also serves as a temporary working area for travelers and sales people. Under this design layout, some surplus spaces are dedicated to some public area like meeting hub and hot desks which all have unique design character.

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.

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 3 million with 4-month construction time 2. The interior fitting out part of the ABB Xi’an 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 4 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