For a brand whose ethos is to enable people to ‘belong anywhere’, how would you design their workplace to ensure their employees feel like they belong and live the brand culture? An interesting challenge put forth to us by Airbnb for their Beijing office.
To build a sense of community the design concept revolves around creating neighbourhoods based on Beijing’s traditional housing styles that come together to create private courtyards. Each of these neighbourhoods were themed based on iconic neighbourhoods and traditional parks of Beijing. The themes of these community spaces were chosen to appeal to different users and evoke different moods and emotions.
To further create a sense of belonging and connect employees with the brand spaces that matched the company’s listings around the world were brought into being. To enable employees to feel empowered, we involved the employees in the “Employee Design Experience” to get them involved in their work space design, in terms of cultivating the employees’ community consciousness.
