What an Amazing Office: Wizeline

When you walk into Mexican development company Wizeline’s Guadalajara offices, it is clear they were designed to support an ethos of ‘work hard, play hard.” In a move to expand its operations, Wizeline opened a new 100,000 square foot office, just a few hundred feet from its previous main campus in Zapopan, in November 2018.

“Our very own UX team, who work with our clients for tech projects, were involved in the design of the building. This has had positive outcomes in the sense that firstly, means that our offices are aligned to our brand guidelines. Secondly, it is based in aiming to create a work-life integration so we do have several spaces for leisure and entertainment,” said Ricardo Tapia-Iturriaga, Director of Wizeline’s Executive Briefing Center.

A 15,000 square foot grassy terrace tops the new Guadalajara offices of Wizeline

Like the company itself, the building’s design places an emphasis on collaborative spaces and facilities with 60+ meeting rooms and 25 private phone booths, a strategic combination to foster collaboration between remote teams. The new space also houses an auditorium to host up to 700 employees for company-wide meetings, and seven spacious classrooms for Wizeline Academy and training sessions.

Wizeline Academy is an initiative offering free courses to develop specialized skills in Mexico and Vietnam. To date, the Academy has graduated over 2,500 students from 85 courses in Artificial Intelligence, User Experience, Software Development, Technical Writing, Project Management, Leadership and more.

A blend of traditional open plan workspaces combine with collaborative areas that promote team remote working

In addition, the new facilities are centered around employee wellness, making it easy for Wizeline employees to stay healthy at work. Employees benefit from a daycare center and nursery room, gym and fitness center, a doctor’s office, a wellness and meditation room, and an interactive game room fully equipped with video games and arcades, ping pong tables, and foosball.

An outdoor recreation area was built on a 15,000 square foot grass-covered terrace for meals, hosting events, or working outdoors.

Employees can relax, socialize or even work on the rooftop terrace

The terrace is a flexible space that can accommodate many different activities

Staff can take a break and play on the arcade style video game machines

Foosball tables are also there to help employees relax or stimulate creative thought

Employee health is an important part of Wizeline’s approach to their work spaces, so an employe gym is available to all staff on premises

Quirky and unconventional facilities are the hallmark of the building

This new office features dedicated spaces for design-thinking and creativity with a Makers Lab and a UX Studio. These creative labs invite developers and UX designers to come together and experiment with new technologies and spark creative projects. “The whole space is designed to be zones into places for focus and concentration and other spaces for collaboration and teamwork,” Tapia-Iturriaga added.

Equally important to the design of Wizeline’s space is the desire to connect with the local community and bring together Wizeline staff, clients and local residents and businesses. “We have created this office to be friendly for our clients to come visit,” he said.

In January, 2019 Wizeline kicked-off operations of its Executive Briefing Center (EBC) at its new facilities in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Executive Briefing Center is an enabling platform for innovation and digital disruption that represents an incredible opportunity for their visitors to dive deep into Wizeline’s engineering-centric, Silicon Valley-like culture, form long-lasting relationships, and identify how the technology Wizeline creates could potentially be a game-changer for their business.

“We have to integrate the local community within this experience for them so they can have a very personal taste of Guadalajara in their visit to this building. The spaces are created for them to integrate with the teams they could potentially be working with,” Tapia-Iturriaga said.

This engagement marketing tool offers personalized experiences with a comprehensive program including campus tours, social and networking activities, workshops and tailored content designed by Wizeline’s Academy, UX Design, Solutions Architecture, Delivery and Engineering teams. The executive briefing center is equipped with executive rooms for holding meetings with stakeholders and takes advantage of the UX studio and training rooms at Wizeline for boosting innovation with the executive teams visiting the EBC.

Spaces in the Executive Briefing Center are designed to promote integration of client and Wizeline teams

Lego serious play is just one approach to the Silicon’Valley style development process Wizeline employs

Wizeline’s Guadalajara offices allows their employees to live the ethos of the company and use the flexible spaces and on-site facilities to ensure better work-life integration.