Case Study

Confidential Lean Executive Headquarters An Office That Illuminates a Company’s Success in the Global Marketplace

Deerfield, Illinois

The Challenge

The confidential client required a global executive headquarters completed on a fast-track schedule to better accommodate international clients and partners and to recruit talent. HKS faced the challenge of creating a cost-conscious but sophisticated presence for the well-known brand in a multi-tenant building. The space also had to express the brand in a way that was consistent with the client’s existing corporate facilities. 

The Design Solution

HKS used Lean methods to identify the needs of the client’s employees and visitors early in the design process, which kept the project on schedule. The design team observed the use of the current office space and conducted future-focused programming interviews to map how employees and visitors would use the new space, individually and collectively. This approach helped the HKS team balance overarching design goals of transparency, collaboration and hospitality with privacy and security.

Executive offices require a level of refinement that differentiates them from other corporate facilities. The design of the headquarters combines elegant formal spaces like the boardroom with adjacent informal spaces to extend the functionality of meeting spaces for employees and guests alike.

HKS took a subtle approach to the design, letting the materiality and embedded design elements tell the brand story. This contributed to a sophisticated execution of space and timeless branded experience. The emphasis was on the larger story about what all the brand makes possible through their products and services.

The Design Impact

In less than a year, HKS delivered a renovated workspace bespoke for executive-level employees and guests, including a conference center, while renovating the building lobby. The design solution exceeded expectations of a modern workplace and provided space to accommodate 350 executive and support staff members.

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Project Features

  • 120,000 square feet (11,148 sm)
  • 7,000-square-foot (650 sm) conference center
  • 1,000 square feet (92 sm) of media and creative service spaces
  • 10 executive offices
  • 3 offices for visiting guests
  • Formal and informal meeting spaces

HKS successfully captured our brand, culture and vision to create an exceptionally innovative and timeless interior design through their innovative project execution and creative problem solving.

project executive sponsor