The Untold Story Behind XSpace’s Science-driven Design
The Untold Story Behind XSpace’s Science-driven Design
XAG
2019-08-09 14:52
4518
News
XAG
2019-08-09 14:52
The Untold Story Behind XSpace’s Science-driven Design

 

XSpace

 

Meet XAG’s new headquarter campus “XSpace” – an inclusive, nature-inspired workspace located in Tianhe Software Park, one of China’s first national high-tech industrial development zones. Completed in 2018, the 108,000-square-foot office is surrounded by natural landscape such as woods and lakes and now houses nearly 500 employees from R&D, marketing, sales and other supporting departments.

 

XAG's headquarter

 

As an agriculture technology company, we aim to resolve the world’s most challenging problems related to sustainable sustenance. High tech such as agriculture drones, AI engine and IoT system have been leveraged to enable smart farming and improve food safety. Such core values are deeply embedded in XSpace’s design principle – achieving a symbiosis between technology and nature.

 


Reception


At the entrance of XSpace is a greeting wall with an XAG logo grown from Australian bryophyte, which brings natural vitality at the very moment of stepping in. Situated right behind the reception, a mini ecological indoor farm tended by internal staff is built alongside the exhibition hall to display how intelligent devices are being applied to enable precision agriculture and grow high-quality produce.

 

Ecological Farm



Exploring deeper, it can be discovered that earth friendly elements are everywhere inside the building, with eco-cement, timber and other renewable materials being used for interior design. The 4-story, open-plan layout and the relaxing communal spaces on each floor are designed to inspire collaboration and creativity to the greatest extent. This all makes XSpace the hub of agtech innovation emerging from engineers’ rigorous yet out-of-the-box thinking.

 


R&D center


In addition, a series of modern amenities, including a café, a boutique gym and a rooftop garden, has been unsurprisingly introduced to the building, as employee perks and important part of what our company represents.

 

The Tech-backed, Ecological Exhibition Space

 

The most distinguished feature of XSpace, without doubt, is the exhibition space that vividly tells stories on how agriculture has been consistently reshaped by the ever-evolving technology. The most advanced smart agriculture devices, including all series of the red-and-white plant protection drones, are neatly presented in an open area, with a big screen showing abundant agricultural production data born from lands. The number of farmers served, hectares of farmlands protected, hours of safe flight, amount of pesticide saved etc. – each of these statistics indicates our engineers’ relentless pursuit for ingenious innovations.

 

Exhibition hall


As the real agricultural problem-solvers must understand the farmlands, we encourage our employees, from whatever field of expertise, to continually improve their know-how of smart agriculture. Therefore, a staff-tended mini indoor farm is seamlessly integrated into the space where employees can grow fruits and vegetables to spark enthusiasm towards agriculture technology and share the joy of harvest. The “electrical scarecrow” – an intelligent sensor is installed aside to assist with scientific farm management, monitoring soil condition and crop growth in real time while identifying weeds and pesticides for potential diseases.

 


Indoor farm

 

The Luminously Open-plan Layout for Collaborative Innovations

 

The interior design of XSpace is characterised by high ceilings, large windows and open seating, which promotes smooth, creative collaboration and inspire open-mindedness. Meantime, the “breathing” walls can absorb noises from external environment while views of the green wood allow for quiet work in a vibrant, relaxing atmosphere.

 

Open-plan Floor


Elements of agriculture and science have been naturally blended into the each of the workplace scenarios. All the conference rooms are either themed by crops and seasons, such as cotton, millet, sorghum, mulberry, winter solstice etc. or directly named after the great physicists, including Daniel Bernoulli, William Thomson and Max Planck.

 

Meeting rooms named after scientists


Also, our envision for flying further towards outer space has turned into exquisite decor accessories around the office, intended to stimulate inspirations and reminding people to strive for the impossible.

 

Space-themed

 

Super X Café: Promoting an Inclusive, Healthy Office Vibe

 

A space-themed cafeteria and a boutique gym, available as employee perks, are elaborately crafted on the top floor to make XSpace a comfy home to all. Named after our industrial-graded flight control system, Super X Café is an informal but important communal hub for communication and socialising with people from diverse backgrounds, no matter colleagues of other departments, clients or business partners.

 

Super X Cafe

 

Everyone can enjoy a cup of hot latte or the refreshing cold brew from our café, which is now professionally operated by an award-wining Coffee Master. From Ethiopia and Sumatra to Kenya and Jamaica Blue Mountain, every coffee bean is carefully selected to its finest quality as we are seeking to develop intelligent agriculture solutions to help farmers produce high-quality food.

 

Coffee roasting


Coffee master

 

Just about 50 meters away from the café is a fully equipped workout space and in-office shower rooms specifically customised for the employees. All the fitness equipment inside the gym is strictly approved by certified trainer, catering to different physical needs from entry level, advanced to professional.

 

Guided training


Boutique gym

 

Super X Talk: Delivering the Power of Domain Knowledge

 

In XSpace, every working week is well concluded with the anticipated Super X Talk - a knowledge sharing platform designed for interdisciplinary learning. Apart from our internal staffs, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and business leaders from all over the world are invited to share their inspiring experience and thoughts on various themes. Topics include but not limited to wine tasting, music appreciation, travelling, cross-cultural communication, branding and how to set up a company.

 

Super X Talk


As a result, new ideas are inspired and discussed while different mindsets collide to enable multidisciplinary applications. Innovations inspired within the talk would be infused into the design, engineering and manufacturing of our products to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.

 

XAG family

 

It is truly believed that who we are lies in not only how we design our products, but also how we structure our workspace, build our teams and unite our employees. Everything inside XSpace, from the expansive floor plan, the names of the conference rooms to the iconic indoor farm and communal hub, is designed with our values in minds - making agriculture smarter, an ultimate goal that can only be achieved by collaborative innovation on fields.