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. Infinitus has attracted many partners from different fields by means of diverse development and globalisation in recent years. Steelcase and Infinitus have taken into consideration the employees’ working needs, embedding flexibility and agility into the workplace with widespread use of colours. We are committed to creating an organic workplace where people can enjoy not only passion and collaboration but also privacy and independence.

Embracing the enterprise spirit of ‘Si Li Ji Ren’ (meaning, 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 a 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 Architects, 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 stakeholders and made great efforts to create a modern workplace, which can meet employees’ needs on working and wellness.

Steelcase abandoned the traditional mind-set 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, with over 120 meeting rooms in different sizes and plenty of informal spaces. Infinitus chose Steelcase again and explored together to meet people’s needs and create the best workplace. Infinitus Plaza has a large number of public areas and ample informal spaces, especially lots of meeting rooms. Furniture design, therefore, needed to be considered from the perspective of employees’ needs, leading to the introduction of more Steelcase products and jointly creating the most contemporary workplace for employees’ expectations.

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

To fulfil space utilisation and diverse applications required by Infinitus, Steelcase integrated palettes and flexibility in 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 its design to be functional for the next 10 to 15 years, helping users flexibly shift between different working modes through various spaces. Spatial and physical boundaries with careful layout and distance considerations were set between the workplace and informal areas, ensuring the activities in these spaces didn’t intrude into the other.

The understated design concept explains the perfect match among floors, shared spaces and silhouettes throughout 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 colour schemes can foster a positive environment so that everyone will be more engaged in work, while also enhancing space vitality and making employees feel more energetic.

Co-working

Co-working is the first principle in an Infinitus project. While employees may rely on private spaces to improve their productivity, co-working is a more effective way in the modern workplace to achieve greater efficiency. Therefore, a combination of dedicated spaces and collaborative spaces in Infinitus supports 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 recognised Steelcase product in a central location; people can easily see it with a simple glance once entering the workplace.”

Infinitus believed that too many meeting rooms worked against efficient space utilisation in consideration of frequent co-working scenarios. Therefore, Steelcase introduced the Air³ pod to create a flexible space for small teams to collaborate and communicate in privacy. Infinitus also placed the Air³ pod in the most conspicuous position, allowing staff to communicate quickly and efficiently in it.

Navigating What’s Next: The challenges of hybrid work

A growing number of domestic companies have shifted to the hybrid work model in the post-pandemic era. As a new workplace paradigm for modern society, Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza is committed to creating a pioneering space, which can meet the employees’ ever-changing needs and integrate hybrid work with traditional modes. Hybrid trends somewhat affect corporations such as Infinitus where collective work prevails. Much work can be done online, but face-to-face communication and discussion cannot be replaced due to their high efficiency.

Therefore, we had considered multiple perspectives when planning the workplace. For example, per capita area is quite considerable, so simply making the room more spacious helps with disease prevention and control. Of course, assigned workstations will not be eliminated. Steelcase and Infinitus not only support the employee’s individual work needs but also provide the team with adequate communal spaces for collaboration, increasing social distance and decreasing disease transmission.