The Union Project

This confidential client was challenged with over 31,000 SF of outdated and underutilized space spanning six historic buildings at their global headquarters campus. The challenge — transform this space to an employee-centric hub (later called 'The Union') integral to the daily life of roughly 9,000 people who call it home. Constructed over much of the early twentieth century, these historic freestanding buildings were once home to the original 1900's era HQ all bordered by exterior alleyways. Over time, the original building functions evolved, and the alleyways became interior spaces to create a single campus circulation path linking the six of them together both underground and at ground level. The adjacent 30+ year old interior spaces were all highly functioning and needed to remain accessible throughout the design and construction process. To meet the challenge, the client wanted to create a space that met at the intersection of employee experience, external influences of collegiate design, future work scenarios, and employee needs. Through our research of external influences of collegiate design in the workplace, in-depth programing interviews, employee work sessions, and touring of university campuses and visioning sessions, the needs and solutions became clear. This space had to provide the client with the ability to attract and retain global talent, support early-career professionals transitioning from higher education to the corporate world, introduce new space types that support workplace evolution, enhance user experience with premium campus amenities, and most of all, ensure future flexibility to grow and change.