World's Coolest Offices 2015 - Images
Welcome to the fifth annual Inc. World's Coolest Offices. These are some
of the most beautiful, innovative, and just straight-up amazing company
headquarters and startup offices in the world.
IMAGE: Courtesy Companies
Within
these offices are inventive, Technicolor conference rooms, spacious
rooftop gardens, cozy nap nooks, and an indoor fire pit. But we didn't
select these offices as the best in the world simply for their sweet
amenities or hip aesthetics. They also are cleverly designed to serve not just any company, but
instead to fit the unique working habits of the particular employees
who use the space. If there's an overarching trend in office design this
year, it's customization--and that goes a long way toward explaining
why there's a table that can seat 38 people, a floating conference room,
and an elevated eagle's nest in this year's selections. Here is the
full list of the coolest offices in the world in 2015.
1 / 30
Airbnb: The Journey and the Destination
Time for a visit to Mumbai? How
about Shanghai? For employees based in Airbnb's newly expanded San
Francisco office, such a trek requires going no further than a
decked-out conference room or café corner. Each room is decorated to
resemble a real Airbnb listing. It's a theme the company began when it
moved into its current Brannan Street office, and expanded upon in the
new build-out of the third floor, with help from WRNS Studio and
Interior Design Fair. Here, a colorful industrial residence in
Johannesburg is channeled in a breakout meeting space.
AIRBNB EXPANSION
Location: San Francisco
Designed by: Interior Design Fair & WRNS Studio
Size: 107,000 square feet
PHOTO: Jeremy Bitterman
Location: San Francisco
Designed by: Interior Design Fair & WRNS Studio
Size: 107,000 square feet
PHOTO: Jeremy Bitterman
2 / 30
Design-School Vibes
Minimalism may be having a moment,
but the Airbnb office scoffs at it. Great attention has been paid to
myriad details in every corner of the 96-year-old former warehouse in
San Francisco's startup-saturated SoMa neighborhood. Seems apt, as two
of the company's founders attended Rhode Island School of Design. They
are also used to pulling super-long hours in the office. “We spend the
majority of our lives at work,” Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia told Metropolis magazine. “Why wouldn’t it be as comfortable or as inspiring as your own home?”
AIRBNB EXPANSION
Location: San Francisco
Designed by: Interior Design Fair & WRNS Studio
Size: 107,000 square feet
PHOTO: Jeremy Bitterman
Location: San Francisco
Designed by: Interior Design Fair & WRNS Studio
Size: 107,000 square feet
PHOTO: Jeremy Bitterman
3 / 30
Talk About Growth
As Airbnb grows and grows and grows
as a company--it's now in 34,000 cities around the globe--it needed more
room to stretch out its head count in San Francisco. Expansion also has
shifted the needs of teams. In interviews before the new build-out,
employees called for greater opportunity for small meetings or private
conversations, good acoustics within an open office, and flexibility for
the future growth of the company.
AIRBNB EXPANSION
Location: San Francisco
Designed by: Interior Design Fair & WRNS Studio
Size: 107,000 square feet
PHOTO: Jeremy Bitterman
Location: San Francisco
Designed by: Interior Design Fair & WRNS Studio
Size: 107,000 square feet
PHOTO: Jeremy Bitterman
4 / 30
Bluecore: Playing With the Past
When Justin Huxol, founder of Huxhux
Design, was tapped by interior-design startup Homepolish to work on the
new office for Bluecore, he was ecstatic. The email-marketing startup
was moving to a three-story building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan
that had been used as a liquor storehouse during Prohibition. Pictured
here is the high-ceilinged lobby and meeting area, complete with a wall
of custom wallpaper referencing Bluecore's logo. Focus on the top center
of the image and you'll see a little elevated eagle's nest, where an
employee can curl up with a laptop--or just get a stellar view of what's
happening below.
BLUECORE
Location: New York City
Designed by: Justin Huxol of Huxhux Design for Homepolish
PHOTO: Udomfoto
Location: New York City
Designed by: Justin Huxol of Huxhux Design for Homepolish
PHOTO: Udomfoto
5 / 30
Bright Young Things
Huxhux Design didn't shy away from
color in creating intimate spaces for this three-year-old company, and
drew aesthetic inspiration from the neighborhood. The blue room is a nod
to the nearby Hamilton Fish Park pool. Another conference room plays
with the idea of a 1920s speakeasy. Huxol says he likes to consult with
employees and design specific spaces that speak to them and their
productivity. "It creates an overall environmental impact on your mood
when you're in the space and interacting," he says. But, overall, spaces
should be useful for the company--not strictly fun or too over-the-top.
"It's a challenge to keep it away from theater set design."
BLUECORE
Location: New York City
Designed by: Justin Huxol of Huxhux Design for Homepolish
PHOTO: Udomfoto
Location: New York City
Designed by: Justin Huxol of Huxhux Design for Homepolish
PHOTO: Udomfoto
6 / 30
Paper Planes
In addition to the custom wallpaper
designed for the entranceway, the speakeasy-like conference room,
pictured here, features Huxhux Design's Faux Faux Bois wallpaper. Aside
from these breakout rooms for frequent meetings, Bluecore employees have
another custom gathering place created just for them: a huge table.
It's a company tradition to stop working around noon and sit down
together for lunch, so the design team brought in a massive table that
seats 38 people.
BLUECORE
Location: New York City
Designed by: Justin Huxol of Huxhux Design for Homepolish
PHOTO: Udomfoto
Location: New York City
Designed by: Justin Huxol of Huxhux Design for Homepolish
PHOTO: Udomfoto
7 / 30
Ekimetrics: The Classic and the Modern
The chandelier-adorned and gilded
open office block on Paris's Champs-Élysées was almost perfect for
Ekimetrics, a data-savvy marketing and consulting firm. The only problem
was that the open 10,700 square feet lacked private meeting space.
Architect Estelle Vincent hatched an extraordinarily creative solution:
Construct inside it three thoroughly modern freestanding wooden
structures of slated timber. They not only serve a variety of functions,
but also provide stunning visual contrast between the classic and the
startlingly of-the-moment design.
EKIMETRICS
Location: Paris
Designed by: Estelle Vincent Architecture
Size: 10,700 square feet
PHOTO: Arnaud Schelstraete
Location: Paris
Designed by: Estelle Vincent Architecture
Size: 10,700 square feet
PHOTO: Arnaud Schelstraete
8 / 30
Whimsical Utility
The three freestanding structures
serve as a boardroom, a two-person office, and a gallery. One of them
contains 24 wooden box-stools that can be arranged for a larger meeting.
Above one of the nooks is another meeting space dubbed the "crow's
nest." Coming down? Take the slide.
EKIMETRICS
Location: Paris
Designed by: Estelle Vincent Architecture
Size: 10,700 square feet
PHOTO: Arnaud Schelstraete
Location: Paris
Designed by: Estelle Vincent Architecture
Size: 10,700 square feet
PHOTO: Arnaud Schelstraete
9 / 30
Study in Contrasts
Centuries stand between the office's
shell--tall ceilings, arched windows, and chandeliers--and its
brand-new wooden indoor structures. Despite the age difference, or maybe
because of it, they fit perfectly. The unfinished timber nods to the
structures' own lack of permanence, and they feel agile and lighter for
it. Some pieces are actually mobile, while others just feel like they
are, such as the food truck-inspired staff canteen, dubbed "Eki Truck."
EKIMETRICS
Location: Paris
Designed by: Estelle Vincent Architecture
Size: 10,700 square feet
PHOTO: Arnaud Schelstraete
Location: Paris
Designed by: Estelle Vincent Architecture
Size: 10,700 square feet
PHOTO: Arnaud Schelstraete
10 / 30
Kickstarter: The Speakeasy of Offices
Just a couple years ago, Kickstarter
was outgrowing its home in a former tenement building on Manhattan's
Lower East Side, where workers did their dishes in a bathtub. The
crowdfunding company's founders knew that they wanted an office that was
grand and that would make their employees feel delighted to come to
work. But they also wanted to avoid a flashy Silicon Valley feel. They
bought a nondescript building--a former pencil factory--not far from the
East River in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, and brought in
architect Ole Sondresen to transform its interior. (The exterior remains
nearly unchanged; its doorway is simple and nearly unmarked. Very
incognito.) Pictured here is a sweeping library, where employees can
find quiet nooks for solo work on their laptops.
KICKSTARTER
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Designed by: Ole Sondresen
Size: 29,000 square feet
PHOTO: Ole Sondresen
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Designed by: Ole Sondresen
Size: 29,000 square feet
PHOTO: Ole Sondresen
11 / 30
Sustainability, Inside and Out
Sondresen oriented the office around
a central courtyard that stretches up to a second-floor garden and open
roof deck, where employees like to eat lunch or hang out after hours.
So despite the former factory's thick brick walls, light pours into the
space from above and from its central green oasis, illuminating it from
its core. Glass walls for internal offices and other rooms let the light
seep in. Nearly all of the construction materials and furnishings are
reused or recycled materials: former roof trusses form the courtyard
frame and old porch posts are used as legs for tables in the library,
which itself is constructed from reclaimed wood. And roughly half of the
materials used in construction were sourced locally.
KICKSTARTER
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Designed by: Ole Sondresen
Size: 29,000 square feet
PHOTO: Ole Sondresen
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Designed by: Ole Sondresen
Size: 29,000 square feet
PHOTO: Ole Sondresen
12 / 30
For Your Viewing Pleasure
Three floors of the Kickstarter
office seem to spiral around the open-air courtyard, all glass and
light. But some spaces are private, including a half-dozen small
offices, cozily decorated with antique furniture. And this private
theater, for film screenings, is pleasantly dark, with its western red
cedar and sheetrock walls.
KICKSTARTER
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Designed by: Ole Sondresen
Size: 29,000 square feet
PHOTO: Ole Sondresen
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Designed by: Ole Sondresen
Size: 29,000 square feet
PHOTO: Ole Sondresen
13 / 30
iHeartMedia: Welcome to the Future
When Robert Pittman, CEO of
iHeartMedia (formerly known as Clear Channel Communications) decided to
move the company's headquarters from San Antonio to New York City, he
decided the former satellite office needed an upgrade. The entrance
corridor, pictured here, now looks like something straight out of Blade Runner.
IHEARTMEDIA
Location: New York City
Designed by: Architecture + Information and Beneville Studios
Size: 75,000 square feet
PHOTO: Magda Biernat
Location: New York City
Designed by: Architecture + Information and Beneville Studios
Size: 75,000 square feet
PHOTO: Magda Biernat
14 / 30
Raw Beauty
To build out the space, Pittman
turned to Michael Beneville, an art and design consultant, and Pittman's
Burning Man buddy, according to Interior Design magazine.
Beneville brought on Architecture + Information, directing the renowned
firm that the space should be stripped clean and left as raw as
possible. "No dropped ceilings. No marble. No smoke and mirrors," Dag
Folger, part of the Architecture + Information team, told Interior Design.
Beneville called the look "battleship, not a cruise ship." This
particular battleship has a sweeping hybrid-seating-area-and-staircase
in its hull.
IHEARTMEDIA
Location: New York City
Designed by: Architecture + Information and Beneville Studios
Size: 75,000 square feet
PHOTO: Magda Biernat
Location: New York City
Designed by: Architecture + Information and Beneville Studios
Size: 75,000 square feet
PHOTO: Magda Biernat
15 / 30
The Meek and the Bold
Shades of grey float around the
whole office, surrounding bright pods of color in freestanding
conference rooms, and, as pictured here, a kitchen. Private meeting pods
allow for quiet time, while most of the desking is quite open.
IHEARTMEDIA
Location: New York City
Designed by: Architecture + Information and Beneville Studios
Size: 75,000 square feet
PHOTO: Magda Biernat
Location: New York City
Designed by: Architecture + Information and Beneville Studios
Size: 75,000 square feet
PHOTO: Magda Biernat
16 / 30
SoundCloud: Simplicity and Serenity
SoundCloud's Berlin headquarters,
finished in 2015, manages to feel both cozy and spacious thanks to use
of minimalist, accessible materials in building out the office, which
overlooks the Berlin Wall Memorial. Concrete floors and exposed ceilings
are used to give it an industrial feel. Meticulous planning went into
the 16 mini conference rooms, where employees can meet, snack, or make a
phone call. They're named after neighborhoods in San Francisco, London,
and Berlin.
SOUNDCLOUD
Location: Berlin
Designed by: Kinzo Berlin
Size: 170,000 square feet
PHOTO: Werner Huthmacher
Location: Berlin
Designed by: Kinzo Berlin
Size: 170,000 square feet
PHOTO: Werner Huthmacher
17 / 30
Ecological Ambiance
The office's designers--the German
firm Kinzo--took care to be environmentally conscious. Many of the
acoustic boundaries were made from Heraklith, an eco-friendly wood
fiber. There's also an indoor garden. Even the couch cushions are doing
their part: They're made of sustainable fibers from hemp and coconut.
Here, a flexible seating area allows for lounging or meeting.
SOUNDCLOUD
Location: Berlin
Designed by: Kinzo Berlin
Size: 170,000 square feet
PHOTO: Werner Huthmacher
Location: Berlin
Designed by: Kinzo Berlin
Size: 170,000 square feet
PHOTO: Werner Huthmacher
18 / 30
Free Your Mind
In creating this new home for
approximately 200 SoundCloud employees, who work in the areas of
product, engineering, design, community, and corporate, Kinzo said it
wanted to build a "tangible reflection of a virtual community." The café
is a place for workers to unwind, as is the office's fireplace setting.
And small, cushioned nap pods--as shown here--abound.
SOUNDCLOUD
Location: Berlin
Designed by: Kinzo Berlin
Size: 170,000 square feet
PHOTO: Werner Huthmacher
Location: Berlin
Designed by: Kinzo Berlin
Size: 170,000 square feet
PHOTO: Werner Huthmacher
19 / 30
Harry's: Approachable and Flexible
Harry's, a startup men's razor
retailer in New York City, got help from architects at Tractor Studio
and iconic furniture designer Herman Miller to create a floor plan with
autonomous desks, open collaboration areas, and closed conference space.
The design aims to be flexible enough to accommodate a team that's
likely to nearly double from its current 100-person size.
HARRY'S
Location: New York City
Designed by: Tractor Studio
Size: 26,000 square feet
PHOTO: Geordie Wood
Location: New York City
Designed by: Tractor Studio
Size: 26,000 square feet
PHOTO: Geordie Wood
20 / 30
Sit Down in Style
The partnership with Herman Miller
was obviously fruitful for Harry's--its office is just brimming with
gorgeous chairs, from the classic Eames molded fiberglass model to the
newer ergonomic Sayl chair. "The furniture was chosen to be both
functional and welcoming," says Harry's product design director Scott
Newlin. "We encourage teams to talk and collaborate. We pushed really
hard to make these rooms feel approachable and aid these behaviors." And
there's a little branding infused in these simple rooms: They're named
after the colors of the company's razor handles. So if "orange" is
booked, an employee can reserve "chrome" or "olive".
HARRY'S
Location: New York City
Designed by: Tractor Studio
Size: 26,000 square feet
PHOTO: Geordie Wood
Location: New York City
Designed by: Tractor Studio
Size: 26,000 square feet
PHOTO: Geordie Wood
21 / 30
Living Office
Part of the vision for the new
office was to allow workers to customize their own working method. So
Herman Miller helped build what it dubs a "Living Office," with desks
that raise and lower and walls that move and serve multiple purposes.
So, the graphic design team likes to work standing, and shares screens
often. "We found standing desks (they also lower so they can sit) would
help facilitate these conversations and impromptu meetings that they
often host at their desks," Newlin says. Oh, and those gorgeous
herringbone wood floors? Harry's found them hiding under layers of
"unattractive materials" in the old warehouse space the company acquired
for its office, according to Newlin.
HARRY'S
Location: New York City
Designed by: Tractor Studio
Size: 26,000 square feet
PHOTO: Geordie Wood
Location: New York City
Designed by: Tractor Studio
Size: 26,000 square feet
PHOTO: Geordie Wood
22 / 30
Salt Co-Working: Rethinking Downtime
This co-working space in
Yekaterinburg, Russia, was having growing pains. It was useful for
individuals, but small teams were dominating all the common spaces. So
Salt built out the loft-like building with mini-offices, which were
created by installing sliding doors off of this main corridor. Now,
common spaces like this one, which features beanbag chairs on the floor
and exposed beams on the ceiling, are meeting-free for anyone who wants
to hang out.
SALT CO-WORKING
Location: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Designed by: Esthet Design Lab
PHOTO: Nikita Polosov
Location: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Designed by: Esthet Design Lab
PHOTO: Nikita Polosov
23 / 30
A Slice of Home
Salt has many amenities to make its
companies feel comfortable. There's a recreation zone, a fully equipped
kitchen (shown here--it feels like home, only with more lamps), a
coatroom, and even showers.
SALT CO-WORKING
Location: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Designed by: Esthet Design Lab
PHOTO: Nikita Polosov
Location: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Designed by: Esthet Design Lab
PHOTO: Nikita Polosov
24 / 30
Together and Apart
This office for a single team is one
of many hidden behind massive, rustic sliding doors off the main
hallway. The aging wooden floors were restored when the office was
redone, and other materials, including wood planking and bricks, were
upcycled to create walls. It's a hacker paradise, with an aesthetic one
might call "upscale dungeon."
SALT CO-WORKING
Location: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Designed by: Esthet Design Lab
PHOTO: Nikita Polosov
Location: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Designed by: Esthet Design Lab
PHOTO: Nikita Polosov
25 / 30
Warner Music: The Subtle Art of Branding
You'd recognize that blue,
bubble-shaped W anywhere. But instead of plastering it all over, Warner
Music UK made more subtle nods to its iconic brand in consolidating its
six offices under one roof. Dusty blues are in play throughout the
Wright Lane office, which has been dubbed HQ Music House. Here, an
exposed brick wall provides a backdrop for a sweeping central
staircase--and also a canvas for a giant mural of a zeppelin (of the Led
Zeppelin variety). This view is a mere corner of the headquarters'
impressive central atrium, which allows every floor--each with a
different layout--a view of a grand café area below. There, one logo is
very visible: a periwinkle and navy W woven into the center of the
carpeting.
WARNER MUSIC UK
Location: London
Designed by: Woods Bagot
Size: 67,005 square feet
PHOTO: Gareth Gardner
Location: London
Designed by: Woods Bagot
Size: 67,005 square feet
PHOTO: Gareth Gardner
26 / 30
Rock 'n' Roll Ambiance
The new headquarters, completed in
2015, is an office on a grand scale, but efforts were made to keep it
feeling comfortable and cozy. Lighting levels are kept subdued, for
instance. And there's a subtle rocker vibe throughout: Floors, made of
timber, are stained black. Black window frames are paired with a deep
green finish running along the perimeter of each floor. Leather accents,
such as these benches and chairs, abound. Here, Edison light bulbs get a
different look by mingling with old-school microphones.
WARNER MUSIC UK
Location: London
Designed by: Woods Bagot
Size: 67,005 square feet
PHOTO: Gareth Gardner
Location: London
Designed by: Woods Bagot
Size: 67,005 square feet
PHOTO: Gareth Gardner
27 / 30
All That Glitters
The atrium area at the heart of the
building serves many purposes, making it a hub for employees. All the
furniture--apart from a fixed bar counter, tucked into a partitioned-off
pub area--rests on casters and can be easily moved to make space for
events such as concerts and cocktail parties.
WARNER MUSIC UK
Location: London
Designed by: Woods Bagot
Size: 67,005 square feet
PHOTO: Gareth Gardner
Location: London
Designed by: Woods Bagot
Size: 67,005 square feet
PHOTO: Gareth Gardner
28 / 30
Atlas Holdings: Up in the Air
There's a distinct "ski chalet" vibe
in this Greenwich, Connecticut, hedge-fund office. Well, if ski lodges
had floating conference rooms. When Atlas Holdings sought to transform
this former home into its headquarters, it selected HLW--the firm that
designed Google New York--to carve up the space and build something that
would wow its clients. The designers didn't disappoint, creating the
office's centerpiece war room, which gives the appearance of hovering
over a communal kitchen and café area below.
ATLAS HOLDINGS
Location: Greenwich, Connecticut
Designed by: HLW & Workwell Partners
PHOTO: Chris Cooper
Location: Greenwich, Connecticut
Designed by: HLW & Workwell Partners
PHOTO: Chris Cooper
29 / 30
Furnishings With a Purpose
Once HLW finished construction,
Atlas brought in Workwell Partners to furnish the space. In the center
of the open ground floor, known as the "Great Hall" area, Workwell
Partners installed a custom, 18-foot-long reclaimed wood pantry table.
It seats up to 20 people, and is equipped with power outlets to
encourage collaboration anytime. "You're trying to get people together
spontaneously, so they can come up with cool ideas by working together,"
says Scott Lesizza, a founding principal at Workwell Partners.
ATLAS HOLDINGS
Location: Greenwich, Connecticut
Designed by: HLW & Workwell Partners
PHOTO: Chris Cooper
Location: Greenwich, Connecticut
Designed by: HLW & Workwell Partners
PHOTO: Chris Cooper
30 / 30
Striking a Balance
"There's a certain 'wow' factor to
something like the floating conference room," Lesizza says. "And it
works: There's a long line of people waiting to use it." But smaller
private spaces were also important to Atlas Holdings, as they would be
to any financial firm. So they built in several private nooks and
individual offices to complement the conference room and the sweeping
communal area.
ATLAS HOLDINGS
Location: Greenwich, Connecticut
Designed by: HLW & Workwell Partners
PHOTO: Chris Cooper
Location: Greenwich, Connecticut
Designed by: HLW & Workwell Partners
PHOTO: Chris Cooper
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