Adiacent China HQ

For the design of Adiacent's new China office, Quarta & Armando envisioned a space to support existing operational needs while proposing new strategies for the ever-evolving landscape of workplaces, and integrating sustainability and flexibility into an employee-centric approach.

The Chinese digital space is burgeoning, and companies like Adiacent are increasingly indemand on the market. Since its establishment in 2021, its China branch experienced tremendous growth inemployee size and business complexity, calling for new ways to facilitate collaboration between departments, rationalize processes and promote a healthyand positive workplace culture among its employees.

After interviewing a number of keystake holders in the project, Q&A devised a spatial strategy inspired by principles of urban planning. Drawing from Adiacent’s Italian and specifically Florentine heritage, the resulting concept is that of a Renaissance ideal town, with harmonious perspective and the self-organization of city-dwellers as defining principles. The main element organizing the space is a geometric grid of “roads”, defined underfoot by the different shades of the polished concrete flooring, connecting different departments or “quarters” with each other and key functional areas for meeting, storage and recreation.

The resulting quarters are equipped with custom-sized desks that employees are encouraged to occupy flexibly according to the different collaboration needs required by each project. Each intersection between two roads is marked by a metal-clad service tower which reflects the natural lighting coming from the surrounding strip windows and is equipped with a coffee and tea station as well as storage for waste recycling.

Connected with the working area, a large open “piazza” is the place where formal and informal meetings take place. To facilitate encounters is a long wooden countertop and theater staircase custom-made from wood wool fiber and mounted on wheels that can be easily moved around for different purposes, from smaller internal presentations to larger events.

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