If you yell at the dragon in the middle of Affectiva’s new 16,187-sq.-ft. office, it jumps around and breathes fire in your direction.
It’s not a real dragon, of course. The adorable animated caricature comes alive with an interactive software that lets him react to people's facial expressions. Affectiva is in the business of using technology to gauge emotions, so this is right in its wheelhouse. The company's team created the demo area where the dragon lives, alongside TV screens displaying facial recognition software and a makeshift "car" that simulates the driving experience.
The demo area is only one of the many innovative elements in the four-month-old office.
Perched on the 37th floor of Exchange Place, the massive, black-glass-clad building at 53 State St., the office aligns with the company’s human-focused mission.
“We're humanizing technology, but we're also humanizing the workplace,” said chief marketing officer Gabi Zijderveld. “And of course, these views are the icing on the cake. Like, how can you not like this?”
Like the startup’s old downtown office, this location is filled with the company’s signature color: pink. “Specifically Affectiva pink,” said Zijderveld. “Which is actually magenta.”
A vertical slab of wall space is dedicated to 19 framed patents Affectiva holds. The glass walls in the office also don graphics that explain the technology behind these designs. Zijerderveld said over 40 more patent applications are in the works today.
Each conference room is named after different emotions or key buzzwords, like emotional quotient and cognitive overload. Portraits of pioneering female computer scientist Grace Hopper and Massachusetts Institute of Technology founder Marvin Minsky decorate a hidden corner.
It’s a pseudo-open-concept office. Employees’ desks are separated by tall, leafy plants, so they can work in peace. The floor-wide office also includes common working spaces and conference rooms with 360-degree views of Boston.
“We realized when you're big, the open concept doesn't work as well as you might think,” explained director of operations Sarah Ward. “We were looking specifically for an office that offered both open collaboration, but also with kind of segregated areas where people could have that focused time.”
Ward also threw cozy elements—plush blankets, corner couches and soothing plants—into the office.
“If you're going to spend more of your day at work than not at work, the goal was to like, make it comfortable—humanize it,” said Ward. “Put couches, make a mother's room, enjoy a glass of wine, pull a couch there, have a blanket because people get cold even at work, not just at home on the couch.”
Since moving in this July, 45 Affectiva employees, including engineers, scientists, marketers and more, work out of the space. The office can accommodate 15 more hires as the startup grows during the two-and-a-half-year lease.
Ward spent four hurried weeks working to fill the space after signing the lease in June. “This office is my baby,” Ward said. The “sweat equity” of the employees who stayed during late nights and weekends to put together the final elements also deserve their share of credit, said Zijderveld.
The startup worked with design firm SMMA to construct the layout plans for the office.
“The one thing that I found when we moved in was space matters—how you utilize the space matters,” said Ward. “We value our people. So understanding that where you ask those people to work on a day in day out basis matters.”
Click through the gallery below to see where Affectiva works.
