Premier Construction

LinkedIn Omaha

LinkedIn Omaha HQ showing front entrance
Written by Roma Publications

LinkedIn Omaha

LinkedIn’s new Omaha office is an innovative workplace for the future.

The sophisticated and whimsical design is centred around honest materials, a commitment to craftsmanship and a celebration of heritage, all while embracing the evolution of the hybrid workplace. It is a space designed for growth, community, connection, and an enhanced employee experience, helping to ensure LinkedIn leads the way in workplace design and build.

Omaha is known for a lot of great things; soulful music, eclectic art, sustainable agriculture, humble attitude and ambitious nature. Gensler was tasked to design the social media brand an office which would embody all these qualities. LinkedIn wanted the new space to be a place of invention, creativity, community and change whilst also being a space that cares for the wellbeing of staff and their environment.

Laura Richardson, Design Manager at Gensler told PREMIER CONSTRUCTION about the project brief: “Initially, LinkedIn asked us to collaborate with their team to create a new world class office in Omaha, NE. It is the first new workplace for LinkedIn that aligns with the company’s vision of the future as a fully dynamic work environment. It needed to be a place of optimism, inclusion, and resilience.”

The design for the new space evolved and changed drastically after the initial visioning sessions in late 2018. The teams worked through the pandemic to wrap up the final interior phase in August of 2022, which had a major impact on the final design.

Laura described the challenge that this posed: “We paused our work on the project during documentation, prior to submitting for building permit, to re-imagine the workplace amid the global pandemic. The team pivoted to working remotely, deliberating over hours of video calls. We were able to rethink some preconceived notions of the workplace and imagine an optimistic version of what we wanted the workplace to be when we would all return to the office. The pandemic provided a challenge but also an incredible opportunity.”

The result is a new workplace that delivers fresh employee experiences which align with a more flexible post Covid way of working. Dynamic work environments support team collaboration and individual identity by providing places to collaborate, connect and display cultural artifacts. The office is packed with new task based zones including areas for deep focus and spaces designed for co-working. These are alongside a whole host of social and team enriching amenities including a coffee bar, fitness centre, ‘The Almanac’ – a food hall with 5 uniquely branded food kiosks, a music room with stage for live performances and ‘The 19th Hole’, a game room complete with its own ping pong table, golf simulator and classic arcade games.

The ground levels of both buildings welcome employees and visitors into a warm inviting space, full of different textures, delightfully surprising material pairings, and a diverse array of settings for any personality. Employees are empowered to “choose their own adventure” as to how they would like to work. There are a variety of room types and work areas which give staff the opportunity to match their work activities with the perfect environment to complete them in. There are creative rooms to inspire, deep focus areas and libraries to retreat to and many areas to come together as a community.

The relationship between the interior architectural elements and the graphics storytelling is powerful. Motivational sayings in the building stairwells and the sustainable education messaging throughout the space highlight the company’s resilient ethos, always striving to inspire and uplift their staff. Each floor is designed with a unique theme that mixes the LinkedIn culture with a splash of local flavour and connection.

Sustainability is not just present in the art and infographics around the building, but it is woven into every aspect of the design. The building has been awarded a LEED Gold certification, a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership. The project was completed using over 50% reclaimed wood with the rest Forest Stewardship Council certified. Light sensors, advanced mechanical systems and all electric kitchens also mean that the building uses 24% less energy than it would with typical non energy efficient appliances. 38.4% of the building’s power comes from renewable energy sources including the energy collected from the on site solar canopies which have been installed over the parking spaces. The car parking also includes several electric vehicle charging points to encourage employees to make more sustainable transport choices.

The new office is targeting 2 Star Fitwell certification, which is awarded to buildings which are designed to enhance health and well-being. A key feature which helps the design achieve this are the ‘respite rooms’ which give employees a chance to recharge and reflect, with adjustable environmental settings to suit the individual. The building is also designed around encouraging employees to prioritize their physical health, with an onsite fitness centre and a central stairwell covered with motivational messages to inspire staff to use the stairs where they can. The location of the office building makes getting active easy with plenty of amenities just a short walk or cycle away.

Laura described the personal connection that she and the team at Gensler had to the project: “This project became very personal for me and my team. It was a project that’s lifeline spanned the entirety of the global pandemic. We took the work home with us. Through that experience we were able to envision a more optimistic workplace where our clients would want to return to work and collaborate with their co-workers and community. It was full of hope.”

LinkedIn’s new office space is a fantastic example of how companies are increasingly striving to push the boundaries in what workplace design can achieve. It is only fitting that the business social media giant’s new office is leading the way for the next generation of work life balance.

LinkedIn

 

Barbican Lighting

Barbican is a high quality, high design lighting manufacturer of both standard and custom fixtures. Barbican’s fixtures provide a clean, innovative, and contemporary design adaptable to enhance today’s corporate, healthcare and hospitality environments.

Located in the town of Fort Erie on the Niagara River, across from Buffalo New York, Barbican was founded in 1990 and is proud to continue to work with designers to provide unique lighting options for over 32 years.

We are proud to have worked with some of the top lighting design and architecture firms on projects ranging from local k-12 schools, universities, and assisted living facilities as well as helping to create interesting, warm, and inviting office environments for some of the top companies in North America like LinkedIn, Google, Jeep, Ford, Caterpillar, Simplisafe, WeWork, Target, TD Bank and others.

At the new LinkedIn Offices in Omaha, we worked with our standard straight and curved HPC3 luminous tube segments to realize the designed vision for this project.

Overall, we are privileged to be able to work with some of the most creative minds in architecture and design, and to provide lighting solutions that bring creative concepts, like on this project for LinkedIn Omaha, to life.

For more information, visit: https://barbican.ca/

 

 

 

 

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Roma Publications