Project Details
- Project Name
- Netflix Headquarters
- Location
- CA
- Project Types
- Office
- Size
- 241,000 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2015
- Shared by
- Taylor & Company PR
- Team
-
John Marx, AIA, Design Principal
Robert Giannini, Principal-in-Charge
James Tefend, Principal/Project Manager
- Consultants
-
Construction contractor: Devcon Construction Inc.,Construction contractor: Construction Corporation,Landscape Architect: Studio Five Design,Lighting Designer: Arup,Structural Engineer: DCI Engineers,Other: M-E Engineers (MEP Engineers),Other: Arup (Theater Designer),Audio-visual and Information Technology: Shen Milsom and Wilke
- Project Status
- Built
- Style
- Modern
Project Description
Form4 Architecture created the design for Netflix to exude warm modernism at a human scale. Two buildings, totaling 241,000 square feet, are connected by a slender bridge located mid-air allowing for a free flow from building to building. The interior design blurs the distinction between work and social areas. Several types of distinct spaces were created through the use of dividers, furniture groupings, and architectural elements. Warm colors and varied textures impart a residential vibe. The overall design creates a relaxed and collaborative workspace.
The architecture tastefully showcases what building technology can do to convey beauty in the world of tectonics. Layering, extrusion, and interlocking of volumes are three prime design techniques adopted to let natural light reveal the architecture to its full form. The buildings are designed to be delicate and genteel, with a seamless relationship to light and nature. The tripartite façade has the imaginative interplay of aluminum fins, deep overhangs, and silver metal panels. The punched openings carved against the terracotta colored pre-cast panels ingeniously intertwine with the modern curtain wall system.
The interiors throughout focus on the movement and connection of collaborative spaces. The double-height lobby attracts visitors with glowing light and an array of natural materials, from stone floors to wood ceilings, to hand-flamed steel panels. At the center is the first-floor cafeteria, the main social space, which offers several seating options, including intimate booths as well as communal tables made of rough-hewn wood planks. Various ceiling textures—wooden slats, glowing white acoustical fabric, and hanging red lights—delineate different gathering spaces. The cafeteria pours out into a secure landscaped courtyard between the buildings.
Workspaces are open and light filled with a series of small meeting rooms playfully named after popular movies. Supergraphics on the glass walls carry on the specific movie theme while artfully lending some visual privacy to the fish-bowl rooms. A primary palette of blue, yellow, and red activates the space, contrasting well with natural wood accents. Open collaborative spaces are separated by working partitions with dry-erase surfaces for brainstorming.
Individual sanctuaries are designed for different effect. Glowing light benches are surrounded by wood-slat walls for a meditative retreat. A raised gathering space dubbed the “coliseum” sports three tiers of curved upholstered banquettes surrounding an inner circle; the discussion leader stands in the middle to make eye contact with the group. Natural materials come together in a casual conference space with one wall lined in stone and another in wood slats wrapping from wall to ceiling.
The garden defines the general experience of this project. Mature redwood trees ranging from 40 feet to 100 feet in height planted along a linear garden add to the bucolic character of the complex. They confer spatial majesty through their sheer size, with the architecture of the campus being a benevolent complement to its natural message.
This project showcases modernism’s latent capacity to convey warmth and to engage building occupants and daily visitors in an experience full of profound emotional meaning.
Firm: Form4 Architecture believes architecture is the art of giving form to ideas. The award-winning firm specializes in creating environments, whether for tech offices, mixed-use developments, or residences, that respond as equally to the topography of a site as they do to the people they serve. Winner of the 2017 American Prize for Architecture, Form4 creates formal expressions that are not only poetically moving and conceptually thoughtful, but also reflective of the client’s values and goals. As collaborative partners in the design process, the principals of Form4 Architecture—Robert J. Giannini, John Marx, AIA, Paul Ferro, and James Tefend—are personally involved with every project from concept to completion, bringing the collective wealth of years of expertise and knowledge to each client's vision. Since 1998, the firm has built a rich portfolio of award-winning work for national and international clients within diverse market sectors.