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| Etsy Corporate Headquarters, Brooklyn |
From forests under glass to working on a pirate ship, these 13 office spaces will make you forget all about watching the clock.
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| Google's Playa Vista, Calif. office is a sprawling 450,000 square-foot former airplane hangar. |
Industry: Technology
Google recently opened up a brand new and very unusual large office in Playa Vista, California. It’s not just an office building. It’s a building within a sprawling 450,000-square-foot wooden airplane hangar. Not just any airplane hangar, either. It belonged to Howard Hughes, who built the hangar for his 200-ton airplane, the Spruce Goose, in the 1940s.
The hangar is a far cry from its original form and has been masterfully restored by ZGF Architects. It now has four floors, with each level shaped in such a way that allows for daylight on every level. There are numerous stairways, bridges and walkways, and the walk routes take a circular fashion which is “intended to increase interaction,” according to ZGF.
From certain angles, it sort of looks like a parked cruise ship.
Etsy
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| Etsy contracted local artists for all of the furnishings and artwork in its Brooklyn, New York headquarters. |
Industry: E-commerce
When designing its headquarters in Brooklyn, Etsy took on the Living Building Challenge, where construction and design is driven by sustainability on all fronts.
Etsy contracted local artists for all of its furnishings and artwork, the building materials are all eco-friendly and the company even weighs their own trash with a target to “ultimately send zero waste to landfill.”
Oh, and the place looks awesome, too.
Inventionland
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| The Pittsburgh office of Inventionland features a miniature motor speedway, among other things. |
Industry: Workspace provider
Inventionland is a Pittsburgh-based company that exists for inspiration: employees of other companies pay to rent some space where they can invent new products and improve on existing business strategies. Here’s a glimpse of what theme park workspaces the company offers:
* A pirate ship for high-tech products and games
* A movie-like computer lab for robotics
* A storybook themed area for children’s products
* A miniature motor speedway for automotive ideas
* A friggin’ castle, for pretty much whatever
* A sports-themed room for sports-themed products
* A cavern with waterfall for ideas that require some natural inspiration
Amazon
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| You'll find 40,000 plants from around the world inhabiting Amazon's three incredible geodesic glass domes in Seattle. |
Industry: E-commerce and more
While Amazon’s warehouse workers get the shaft, the companies’ white collar workers are afforded an amazing workspace.
About 40,000 plants from around the world inhabit its three incredible geodesic glass domes located on its campus in Seattle, Washington. The place basically has its own climate which allows these plants to thrive symbiotically with its workers, who have multiple sitting areas that rise above the artificial jungle like a treehouse community.
Bumble
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| Bumble's bright yellow office space features honeycomb flourishes throughout. |
Industry: Technology/Dating app
Bumble’s headquarters in Austin, Texas is all about the company name. Its female-first dating app has been popular enough to afford the company a bright yellow office space with a professional blowout room, bar and honeycomb flourishes throughout.
The Barbarian Group
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| The digital ad agency based in New York City has a unique piece of furniture that wraps around the entire office. |
Industry: Advertising
The digital ad agency based in New York City has a unique piece of furniture that wraps, weaves and undulates around the entire office: a superdesk. The arches are fitted with shelving and more seating areas and create tiny walkways. The desk is 1,100-feet long and can accommodate up to 170 people.
WeWork
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| WeWork's New York City headquarters feature tons of glass and open space to encourage people to work together. |
Industry: Workspace provider
WeWork’s goal as a company is all about collaboration, and it really shows in its Manhattan headquarters.
The office has transparent workspaces all over, with tons of glass and open space to encourage people to work together by showcasing how everyone else is working together.
Airbnb
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| Airbnb’s San Francisco headquarters pulls from global influences, keeping in line with its brand. |
Industry: Technology/Hospitality
Airbnb’s San Francisco headquarters takes its influence from … well, everywhere.
Rooms feature signs naming their area of influence, like Johannesburg, Cairo, Mumbai, Sydney and Los Angeles. And there are tons of quirky touches, like a living wall, a mini trailer and a wall lined with tented working spaces.
Plus, there are no drunk tourists stumbling around.
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| Twitter's main office in San Francisco features a mashup between old and new. |
Industry: Social media
The mashup between old and new in Twitter’s main office is awesome. The company is situated in a 1937 Art Deco building located in downtown San Francisco. While it still retains its original architectural charm, many areas have been updated with a woodsy theme.
There’s a kombucha bar, a game room, working booths, an exercise room and a massive common area with a wavy ceiling. The mixture of glass and wood blend together high-tech ideals with classic design.
Urban Outfitters
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| Urban Outfitters' Philadelphia headquarters is built in what was a Navy shipyard. |
Industry: Clothing
The clothing brand Urban Outfitters has one helluva cool looking headquarters in Philadelphia. It’s built in what was an historic Navy shipyard.
Nine shipbuilding factories and a campus fitted with iron railways are now a vibrant, artfully created landscape. The inside is amazing too: tons of plant life, a glitter wall and cozy sitting areas now make up the insides of an old military campus, which still has its gritty industrial beams and chapped walls that look damned cool.
Epic Systems
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| The healthcare software company's Wisconsin offices features a New York City subway tunnel and an Indiana Jones-themed tunnel. |
Industry: Healthcare
Epic Systems is a healthcare software company with about $2.5 billion of revenue. As far as amazing workplaces go, they’re putting that money to good use — its headquarters in Verona, Wisconsin, is out of this world.
Its multi-campus property has a number of amazingly themed places like the wild-west building, a “deep space” auditorium, a farm-themed campus, fantasy-themed areas, a New York City subway tunnel, an Indiana Jones-themed tunnel and a crazy cool conference room treehouse.
Groupon
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| The Chicago headquarters of coupon/deal giant Groupon features a tiki bar, among other things. |
Industry: E-commerce/Deals
The coupon/deal giant Groupon has a pretty sweet office setup in its Chicago headquarters. The office of the money-saving enterprise features a wealth of different kind of rooms, from a dining area with UFO piloted by a cat to a rather serious-looking meeting area that resembles the war room from “Dr. Strangelove.”
There’s also a tiki bar.
Nike
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| Nike’s main campus in Beaverton, Oregon sits on 286 acres and has a man-made lake. |
Industry: Sporting goods
Nike spared no expense at its headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Nike’s main campus sits on 286 acres, has over 75 buildings, a manmade lake (Lake Nike), 281 bronze statues of sports legends, an appropriate area to play just about any sport you want and numerous places to work out.
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