Race forward workshop with local edge

For the work space of renowned EV battery system innovator, XING Mobility, XRANGE’s design concept defies convention by defining the auto-tech workshop as a cross between a tech firm, an art gallery, a maker lab and a race car garage, accented with unique details inspired by driving and cars. With just 8 weeks for design and construction on a shoe-string budget for the vast 650 sqm space, gritty, industrial materials are reinterpreted and repurposed as key design elements to sit alongside futuristic electric car parts of carbon fiber and precision engineered titanium, used also by luxury watch makers.

Taking inspiration from the startup’s Taiwanese roots, local car and road elements are worked into unique design details throughout the space. Through a very large set of see-through garage doors at the entry, the light filled space is accented with transportation and traffic related colors and motifs.

White traffic reflector sheeting clads enormous sliding garage doors, while a rolling wall partition of orange traffic reflectors sits between the lobby and coffee bar. Blue arrow road signs line the lobby, under which pistons of spent petroleum engines are displayed as reminders of a greasy past. The reception desk is reworked from discarded steel chassis plates; in the bathroom, large clusters of truck rear-view mirrors are repurposed as an array of vanity mirrors. Stair balustrades clad in recycled compressed wood chip boards reveal an existing bollard, painted blue, inside. Custom polyester “fringes” lining the boardroom ceiling is a fire rated, upgraded reinterpretation of the tawdry yet ubiquitous fringe netting used in Taiwanese parking lots and gas stations as sun shading. In the open plan work space, work bays are cordoned off by camouflage netting to obscure sensitive information while simultaneously forming the backdrop to the central “hero car” show area.