The leading authority for the Architecture & Design community
December 10, 2018
Text: Jesse Dorris
Perkins+Will Expands and Enlivens Dropbox Headquarters in Austin
AMQ Solutions workstations and Herman Miller task chairs fill a third-floor work area demarcated by Shaw Contract carpet tiles. Photography Casey Dunn.
Creative types (and everyone else who needed those files yesterday!) rely on Dropbox to quickly exchange their work. Turns out Dropbox had some quick-change needs of its own: a new headquarters in Austin, which needed to be ready in just six months.
Phone booths on the third floor are color blocked in yellow, with walnut doors and Hans J. Wegner CH07 lounge chairs by Carl Hansen & Son. Photography Casey Dunn.
Perkins+Will accepted the challenge, and refreshed 25,000 usable square feet spread across the floors above and below the original office space, with an eye on maintaining Dropbox’s eccentric aesthetic while increasing flexibility as the company grows.
A third floor collaboration area gathers chairs by Arper and Haworth and a Suite NY Sofa around an Andreu World table. Photography Casey Dunn.
“Rather than physically branding the office with the logo,” says principal and senior project manager Matt Taylor, “the client sought to create a seamless fusion of the existing office with the company’s new branding and developed culture.” Which meant fresh ideas like livening up lounge areas with bright dichronic film and groups of classic furnishings in candy colors. Mobile sit-to-stand desks pop up every 14 feet with power in floor raceways, allowing employees to work almost wherever and however they choose—if they can resist the siren song of the music room, where instruments sit ready to create more shareable content.
In a fifth-floor breakout area, recessed lighting within a cove of gold leaf shimmers above a custom screen, Muuto sofa, Geiger Crosshatch chair, Ferm Living black marble table, and a Platner side table by Knoll. Photography Casey Dunn.On the third floor, a collaboration area’s seating includes a Muuto sofa and Dandy chair by Gärsnäs. Photography Casey Dunn.A Room & Board table with seating by DWR and Gus join Eames side chairs and Hay tables in the third floor break area; in the rear, Gus stools pull up to a marble and walnut island in the café. Photography Casey Dunn.On the fifth floor, Andrew Neyer pendants hang in a seating area with vinyl banquettes and chairs by Herman Miller. Photography Casey Dunn.A third floor conference area is defined by hot rolled steel walls; inside, a chandelier by Workstead hangs above an HPL Contract table, Herman Miller task chairs, and flooring by Shaw Contract. Photography Casey Dunn.Custom leather wrap panels cloak the walls of the third floor music room, with a Patricia Urquiola’s rocking chair for Moroso, Blå Station’s Bob sofa, and a Munna armchair; the tables are by Blu Dot. Photography Casey Dunn.A practice area in the third floor music room is lined with Elgin Butler tiles; the partition is walnut. Photography Casey Dunn.
