Uber Headquarters
Client:
Uber
Scope:
Workplace Planning and Design
Location:
San Francisco, CA
Size:
585,000 square feet
The Uber Mission Bay campus is a story about innovation: Taking the best parts of a company - its people and ideas - and providing the right environment for them to thrive in a new San Francisco destination neighborhood. Integral to the vision of a future-forward urban campus, the story of this workplace is about community and identity; transparency and connectivity, and an enhanced user experience focused on sustainability and wellness. Literally changing the way the world moves, Uber sought a mature, centralized workspace where candor and connection leads to everyone being their best self. Human-centered design is the central concept, setting the tone for a company committed to building, growing, and moving forward together with the city it calls home.
Credits:
Eric Laignel
As a part of a four-building superblock campus, Buildings 3 & 4 encompass two, eleven-story towers totaling 584,000 RSF. The design of the interiors focuses on Uber’s vision of the future workplace: Places for collaboration or celebration contrasted with quiet respites for deep dives into considered work or self-reflection. Underscoring one's journey through the buildings is a design approach that conveys a sense of place and the experience of wellbeing.
The story begins in the building lobbies and each floor's elevator lobbies where Uber's evolved brand and company values set the tone for the user experience. The building lobbies, each with floor-to-ceiling curtain walls, visually connect and integrate with the broader community, outdoor plaza, and bustling Third Street. Other public spaces are also designed around views to the outdoors, framing Mission Bay's unique character, including the adjacent Chase Center Arena, home to the Golden State Warriors. Landscaped roof terraces with panoramic views provide communal spaces for work, fitness, and events, further connecting users with the dynamic and unique Mission Bay neighborhood.
Choices for how one works, or engages with others, or recharging oneself are present via diverse spaces throughout the campus. Designed with physical barriers and silos removed, the workplace offers transparent and connected spaces with unobstructed sightlines to the outdoors and between floors. Open desking configurations create distinctive neighborhoods supported by a variety of enclosed spaces for training, conferences, and private phone calls. Personal autonomy and choice are reflected in the design of intuitive transitional spaces for solitary work and ancillary spaces for small group collaboration. Facing Chase Center plaza, a two-story community stadium serves as a large-group assembly and social gathering space. With comfortable bleacher seating and a state-of-the-art programmable backlit ceiling, color varies throughout the day creating a dynamic and energetic environment.
Evident by its LEED v4 Gold certification, numerous design interventions focused on sustainability and wellness are employed. Strategically located slab openings and interconnecting stairs promote activity, connection, and interaction between floors. Daylighting, views to the outdoors, and biophilic interventions are distributed equitably across floors to ensure that users experience wellbeing throughout the day. An array of amenity spaces throughout the floors — quiet rooms; care rooms; wellness suite; a full-service two-floor café; staffed barista coffee bar and smoothie bar; event lounge; snack rooms; pop-up food spaces; and libraries — offer employees a variety of destinations for recharging, renewal, and self-care.
With home offices becoming a key part of the work ecosystem, balance is achieved by promoting innovation, culture, and community-building in a human-centric campus environment that draws people together and offers a host of work modes and amenities.
