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Rare introduces its new sustainable workplace, Barn X
The new construction is Xbox’s first mass timber building in Europe
Rare has marked Earth Day by showing off its latest building, a sustainable workplace called Barn X.
The 1200 metre-squared building was built on Rare’s campus in Twycross, Leicestershire and has been certified LEED Gold sustainable building status, according to an official Microsoft news post.
The Xbox studio already has four barns, which in the past were used to house different development teams working on separate games.
Barn X, however, is designed to bring together teams from various projects who are working on similar elements, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz.
The building runs entirely on electricity, some of which is offset by 750 seuqe metres of solar panels located in a nearby field.
It also uses condensated water from chillers to help flush its toilets, and has a pitched roof which contains advanced cooling and ventilation systems.
Its external cladding timber is New Zealand Acoya. While this had to be flown over, which naturally isn’t too eco-friendly, Microsoft notes that this particular wood will last for 60 years without the need for any varnish or other sealer.
Barn X was also created with neurodiversity in mind, with staff able to adjust their individual desk lighting however they want, and numerous spaces available in the building for moments of calm or privacy.
According to the GI.biz article, Barn X will hold the teams working on Everwild, Sea of Thieves and Rare’s engines and services teams.
The other buildings will continue to be used for secret projects that other teams may not know about.
“Before we announced it, Sea of Thieves coming to PS5 was somewhat secret, and the easiest way to keep a secret is to put it behind a locked door,” studio boss Craig Duncan told GI.biz. “We created a key carded space in the bottom of Barn C for that. If we’re working on something secret, I can now create a space that keeps that team separate.
“That’s not what we’ve done with Barn X. Barn X will be the things that are going on that all the teams know about, because we want the space to be collaborative.”
