How TNG embraced the growing trend of combined workspaces

Walk into any high-end gym today, and you’ll see that they are more than just a collection of intimidating machines. They are likely to have a retail store selling sports gear and a nutrition booth selling post-workout smoothies. They may even partner with local health food stores to save you a grocery run while helping you stay on track with your diet. In other words, they cater to every aspect of your fitness goals.

Gone are the days when businesses just provided singular products and services. With consumer needs and lifestyles evolving fast, companies now have to identify customers’ pain points and offer comprehensive solutions. Businesses that provide combined services thus, are fast becoming popular. Today, we see this everywhere. Modern hotels have coworking spaces within their premises to cater to digital nomads. Movie theatres offer babysitting services to meet the needs of new parents. Traditional offices too, are seeing an opportunity here to modernise and grow their businesses. That’s where the combined workplace comes in.

Space Matrix recently worked with TNG FinTech Group to create just such a workplace in Hong Kong. TNG is a company that brings together top fintech leaders who work to empower the unbanked population. Their solutions include new-age offerings like e-wallets, mobile payment platforms, and services that simplify cross border payments. Given that their business is driven by innovation, their office in Hong Kong needed to challenge accepted norms. At the same time, collaboration is an important part of their business too. That’s why we created a unique combined workspace for TNG, which includes an office as well as a coworking space. Take a look.

Wall Street Factory coworking space

The 20th floor of the office houses the ‘Wall Street Factory’ — a thriving fintech incubator and coworking space. This is where entrepreneurs, fintech startups, investors and freelancers can come to work, innovate and build a community. Wall Street Factory has all the usual amenities that one expects in a coworking space — hot desks, private rooms, high-speed WiFi, housekeeping services and so on. But as the name suggests, the coworking office design is inspired by Wall Street, so it also has some unique features to channel its buzz and energy.

Right near the entrance, one will see the iconic sculptures of the Charging Bull and the Fearless Girl. Synonymous with the financial hub, these installations immediately brand Wall Street Factory as the place to be for fintech entrepreneurs and investors. Also inspired by the stock market, we installed ten digital screens that show the stock performance of every startup working out of this space. This is called the Wall Street Corner — and it gives investors and partners an immediate idea of the brands that work here, and where they stand in the market.

To encourage collaboration and knowledge-sharing, we have a large Arena Stadium that accommodates over 200 people at a time. This space is digitally enabled with a state-of-the-art AV system, making it the perfect place to conduct seminars and industry events. There are also three ‘Sandboxes’, which are flexible meeting rooms with operable partitions and lightweight furniture. These Sandboxes can be altered and reconfigured in different ways to cater to various kinds of meetings, discussions and training sessions. Apart from the usual café, gym and conference rooms, there is yet another special feature of the Wall Street Factory. It has in-house banking services that offer financial solutions to new businesses, to help them thrive and grow.

TNG office space

Up on the 21st floor is TNG’s own office space. Unlike a stuffy financial workspace, this open plan office is designed like a chic, luxury boutique. The colour palette is bold and energetic, with splashes of orange and blue. Eye-catching, contemporary artwork is dotted all around the office interior. For instance, take the whimsical portrait of Warren Buffett on the frosted meeting room wall.

There is a wide variety of seating options for employees too — they can choose traditional tables and workstations, or opt for more modern bar seats, standing desks and work booths. The workspace design is conceptualised to maximise collaboration. There are lots of huddle spaces and nooks for impromptu discussions, so employees can interact informally without having to knock on doors or schedule appointments. The furniture is light and movable, enabling people to draw an extra chair or two, and form groups of different sizes. Of course, all TNG employees have access to Wall Street Factory too. They can head there for meetings, discussions and brainstorming sessions with the most brilliant minds in the industry. Moreover, having access to the incubator is also great for their own professional growth — they can attend all the fintech conferences and seminars that are hosted there.

When they need a break, employees can head to the relaxation zone, where we have a yoga area, as well as decadent massage chairs. Alternatively, they can grab a coffee or a bite to eat at the Time Out Café in Wall Street Factory, where they enjoy special staff discounts. The gym at the coworking space is open to them too, should they wish to squeeze in a quick workout in between meetings.

 The combined workspace thus, can open up a whole new world of possibilities. It can help you service your clients better and meet their changing needs. It can help you grow your own business by expanding into associated verticals. Moreover, it can enable you to improve workplace engagement by creating new growth and learning opportunities for your own employees.

Intrigued by the combined workplace trend and the benefits that come with it? Let’s discuss a suitable workplace strategy for your business.