Google’s services are not available in China, but that isn’t stopping it from making a significant investment in a company based on Chinese soil. The U.S. search giant is backing Mobvoi, a four-year-old Beijing-based company specializing in mobile voice technology. Founded by Google alumnus Li Zhifei in October 2012, Mobvoi，in Chinese ‘chumenwenwen’，aspires to define the human-machine interaction through artificial intelligence technologies provides mobile voice search in China.

Not only does the technology have deep roots connected to Google, even its logo is similar to Google’s authentic color. The company’s Chinese name, ‘Chumenwenwen’ visually combines the two Chinese characters, ‘door’ and ‘ask’. Designer David Ho uses these two Chinese characters as the design idea to apply to the main entrance. The outline of two orange glass meeting rooms attached on the left side of the reception area looks like the two Chinese characters, so that the logo and space makes a perfect combination reflecting the company image.

CEO Mr. Li wishes to provide their staff a great relaxation environment in the office, so David planned a 300 square meter comfortable lounge area located in the south side with the best view. This occupies 16% of the total office space compared to using only about 5% in a general office lounge/pantry area. At the same time Mr. Li also requires a minimum number of 150 workstations in the plan. The designer’s response to the challenge is to replace the L-shape workstation with a straight one with an under-desk cabinet to save space. Eventually, the number of desks meets the requirements of 153 in total and creates a relaxing, bright and pleasant office.

Mobvoi is the only startup firm in China equipped with its own Chinese voice recognition, semantic analytics, and search technologies. It has developed a Chinese voice search mobile app with two million accumulated users, a Chinese smartwatch operating system and a smartwatch called Ticwear. In this way, ‘talk’ becomes a major point of the company. Here, a total of 12 small to large sized meeting rooms are placed with three extra open talking spaces. On the glass partition of the meeting room, ‘TIME IN CONTROL’ is displayed, which is the slogan that emphasizes the company’s culture and its core products in one sentence.

Photography by Liang Zhe