Going into the office can be tough — we get it. No matter how much you do (or don’t) love your job, spending 40 hours per week in an uninspiring space of fluorescent bulbs and blank walls is bound to leave anyone daydreaming for better design.
Take a look at these companies who have reinvented what we think of as the corporate office. They’ve collectively cut out the cubicle, embraced the employee kitchen, and upgraded to much more comfortable seating. In other words, where do we apply?
If the most refreshing part of your office is the water cooler, take a look at these downright fun, innovative, creative offices that make going to work seem a whole lot more enjoyable.
9 Creative Offices We Wish We Worked In:
Airbnb is known for connecting people all over the world with unique places while traveling, and they wanted to bring this theme into their new San Francisco offices. Every part of the 72,031 square foot office makes a nod to different styles of homes from around the world. The coolest part? The modern top floor atrium is a kitchen/dining hall/multi-purpose space where a dinner bell signals the start of local, organic family-style means for the entire company.
Overlooking the Chicago River in a hip and vibrant neighborhood, the user-review company has taken up shop in an iconic warehouse, recently renovated to house several tech and startup companies. Yelp’s office embraces the building’s industrial character by leaving ceilings, mechanical systems, and support beams unfinished. The urban aesthetic twists in with bold wood, modern office furniture and accents of Yelp’s signature red.
Refinery29 is a women’s fashion and beauty website that is known for its meticulously curated style and design. Their 25,000 square foot office in Lower Manhattan embraces this ideal perfectly. Perched in an Art Deco building overlooking the river, the aesthetic of Refinery29’s collaborative space is whimsical, chic, and full of punches of bright color. There are several cool nooks and crannies in this office, but one feature that stands out across the board: the furniture is fantastic.
When online travel guru TripAdvisor built their new headquarters just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, they wanted their 282,000 square foot space to feel as imaginative as possible. Embracing their passion for travel, each floor represents a different continent and its culture. A thousand user photos create a global mural in the reception area. The show stopper, however, is a four-story atrium which includes their version of Rome’s Spanish Steps and a three-story vertical garden under a electronic sky.
Vacation home rental company HomeAway has over 20 creative offices globally, all seeking to make employees feel like they’re anywhere in the world but work. Their Austin office is no exception, as an 114,665 square foot space for employees to hang out all day. Or, work. The birdhouse-themed office provides seemingly endless community space for employees to collaborate and create. There’s also a 3D video tunnel for “virtual vacation experiences”. We’re not sure what that means but it certainly can’t be a bad thing.
Have you heard of MOO? They’re known for their trademark tiny business cards in endlessly fun colors and designs. Their headquarters can be found in London, England. The key focus of this space was for it to be just as whimsical, creative and colorful as the company’s work is. A 60-meter paper installation ties into Moo’s paper-centric business model.
If you know anyone in advertising, it’s Wieden+Kennedy. The Portland-based agency has been the creative behind Nike since the start and has grown into a global brand with offices all over the world. Their NYC office is a cool collection of no-frills meeting spaces to encourage the company’s collaborative nature. The minimalist-styled space feels open and airy, and it should, considering it’s 50,000 square feet. Stunning staircases lead from floor to floor, and on the 6th and 7th floor, an outdoor space creates a green oasis for employees to enjoy in the heart of NYC.
Red Frog Events is the brains behind the popular Warrior Dash racing series, The Great Urban Race series, and several concert festivals across America. It makes sense that their Chicago headquarters would be a playful materialization of what they create as a company. So, in came the treehouses, slides, and climbing walls — a nightmare for permitting, but a joy to employees who get to have meetings in tents and play all day.
Dropbox has become the authority in cloud storage. Their NYC office is a visual representation of their dominant, streamlined service. This office occupies a single story in a historic building in the Flatiron District and embraces the building’s character by keeping its brick walls, industrial ceilings, and wood flooring. Most of the furniture and decor in the 11,000 square foot space are black and metal, though the open floor plan keeps the color palette from dampening the bright space. In fact, the entire office is open, save for a few phone and conference rooms — and even those have glass fronts.
