Company breathes life into metaverse
Writer: Wang Jingli | Editor: Zhang Chanwen | From: Shenzhen Daily | Updated: 2022-08-26
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Facebook changed its company name to Meta in October last year, marking an important milestone for metaverse projects. At the end of June, L&A Group opened The Silos, China’s first metaverse experience field, which was built from an industrial relic in Shekou, Shenzhen.
Nearly 60 artists around the world utilized a raft of advanced technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and holographic images to create the field for a unique journey to the metaverse.
A wall inside The Silos is decorated with a quote from Albert Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” In the eyes of Clara Li, chief curator and director of The Silos project, as well as president of L&A Group, this quote highlights one significant part of the metaverse experience field.
“We are not trying to define what the metaverse should be like. Instead, we are hoping that the creation of the field can serve as a starting point to bring more explorations and opportunities in the metaverse virtual world,” Li said during a recent media tour.
Metaverse, a tech buzzword in 2021, shows no sign of slowing down. Some people observed it will be the internet’s ultimate form. L&A Group’s foray into the trendy field shows the company’s goal in developing digital technologies after over 20 years’ development.
“Metaverse greatly extended the possibilities of humanity. We have entered a digital era. The future needs digital solutions. We need to embrace technologies,” Li said.
A visitor interacts with an art installation at The Silos, China’s first metaverse experience field built from an industrial relic in Shekou on Aug. 16. Wang Jingli
L&A Group, established in Shekou in 2001, was previously known as L&A Design, and was dedicated to landscape design following ecological principles at the very beginning.
The company now has grown from a design solution provider to a comprehensive service provider that aims to create a better living environment and breathe life into spaces. On June 28, the company adopted the new moniker L&A Group.
Entering the third stage of development, the company has built a service system featuring the concept of D·B·F·O (D for design, B for building, F for finance and O for operation) to support the cultural creativity and tourism industry, new type of urbanization and beautiful countryside construction, according to the company.
La V-onderland, a sub-brand of L&A Group focusing on parent-child activities, first proposed the idea of child-friendly facilities in the country and contributed to Shenzhen’s construction of a child-friendly city.
In February, the brand won a bid for Longgang children’s park project and is responsible for the design and manufacturing of certain park machines and intellectual property services for the park’s cultural creative products.
Listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Feb. 26 last year, L&A Group now has over 1,700 professionals from around the world. Over 12% of the company’s workforce engage in research and development.
As of now, L&A Group has accomplished about 3,000 reputable landscape and urban design projects in China, with many that won national awards.
Speaking about Shenzhen’s business environment, Li praised Shenzhen as a perfect place to start up businesses. “Anything is possible in Shenzhen. It is fair to say that without Shenzhen — an open, inclusive, simple and efficient city, there would be no L&A Group,” Li said.
“L&A Group is not only a leading enterprise in Shenzhen’s design industry, but also an enterprise with strong creative vitality, and its development process represents the innovative spirit of Shenzhen enterprises that dare to think and do something. It also shows that the city’s soil can cultivate creative enterprises that combine businesses with different sectors,” Liu Rongxin, a researcher from China Development Institute, said during the media tour.