Project Details
- Project Name
- Square Inc. Headquarters
- Location
- CA
- Architect
- Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
- Project Types
- Office
- Shared by
- Hanley Wood
- Project Status
- Built
“Simple, direct, and quite beautiful. It’s a pleasant surprise to find this inside an existing building.” —Jury statement
Anyone who’s bought a vase at a pop-up boutique or artisanal cheese from a farmer’s market has encountered Square, the smartphone extension that allows even the smallest businesses to quickly and easily process credit card transactions. Small, svelte, quadrangular (as befits the name), Square’s square is one of the more appealing design objects to emerge from the digital sector, and the people that make them now have a correspondingly design-forward headquarters in San Francisco. Created by a team in the San Francisco office of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the 295,000-square-foot interior is charged with all the hipness one would expect of a Bay Area tech firm, but has an ease and airiness that suggests a company more assured and mature than the typical startup.
Unfolding across floors six through nine of an existing office building, the space is organized around long central axes. The procession carries the visitor past assorted programmatic features like private work booths, shared tables, and glassed-in conference rooms, creating an interior landscape that’s both visually and functionally diverse. The main event is a sweeping amphitheater-staircase that connects three floors and is activated by tables whose staggered legs—like dogs sitting up and begging for treats—straddle the steps, allowing employees to work and socialize in a lounge-like setting with a clear line of sight to the windows and their enchanting views of the cityscape beyond.
Quiet finishes in white and light wood contribute to an overall effect of a harmonious creative laboratory, one where ideas can become reality in a process that can only be described (to borrow one of the tech world’s favorite terms) as “frictionless.”
Project Credits
Project: Square Headquarters, San Francisco
Client: Square
Architect/Interior Designer: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, San Francisco . Gregory Mottola, FAIA (design principal); Christopher Orsega, AIA (project manager); Michael Kross, Helene Gregoire, Shawn Wood, Lena Shah, Ashley Hinton, Alex Gregor, Rosa Sheng, Christina Cho, Nicholas Ruiz (project team)
General Contractor: BCCI Construction Co.
Construction Manager: Project Focus
Structural Engineer: Tipping Mar (structural);
M/E/P Engineer: CB Engineers (M/E/P)
Lighting Design: Hiram Banks Lighting Design; Niteo
Acoustics: Charles M. Salter Associates
AV/Security/Telecommunications Consultant: RLS
Food Service: Presidio Design Group
Life Safety: The Fire Consultants
Size: 300,000 square feet
Project Description
FROM THE AIA:
Square’s headquarters, spanning four floors of a converted data center, utilizes urban planning principles to transform vast floor plates into a vibrant workplace. A central boulevard, lined with landmarks that break down the scale of the expansive project, serves as the organizational spine of the 295,000-square-foot space. A monumental amphitheater unifies the office floors, providing a flexible venue for a host of activities. Clean lines and predominantly white interiors resonate with Square’s brand at both aesthetic and functional levels, highlighting the company’s core values to create a refined, seamless experience.
2018 INSTITUTE HONOR AWARDS FOR INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE JURY:
Brian Caldwell, AIA (Chair), ThinkTank Design Group; Joshua Aidlin, AIA, Aidlin Darling Design; Kiyomi Kurooka, AIA, DWL Architects + Planners Inc.; John Paquin, AIA, Statesville; and William T. Ruhl, AIA, Ruhl Walker Architects
JURY COMMENTS:
"The company’s ethos is reflected in every detail of their software and hardware products, with a crisp, minimalist design that is both intuitive and elegant. Simple, direct, and quite beautiful—such a pleasant surprise to find this inside an existing building and good for them for having the vision!"
