L’Oreal The Hub

Interior architecture and design and branding services for L’Oréal’s 66,000 SF corporate operations headquarters renovation. This office and laboratory facility serves the North America, Central America, and South America regions. The project includes relocation of a small lab space, finish selection, wayfinding graphics, and branding. The facility houses two labs: a compatibility lab and a homologation lab. The homologation lab is for testing packaging and components of the products such as bottles, caps, nozzles, etc. The compatibility lab is for testing the product itself for stability and quality.
 
The design drew inspiration from the site’s industrial past with each department having a distinct theme or “neighborhood” that was derived from L’Oréal’s global operations centers. The neighborhoods will have an underlying industrial material palette with unique design features and materials that align with the cultural identity of the referenced location such Brazil, China, France, Japan and the USA.
 
One of the project team’s challenges was increasing the seating capacity in the existing facility while also providing more space for social interaction. This was resolved by working with L’Oréal to implement a new flex space concept and converting the office space from private offices to unassigned open work spaces with an emphasis on collaboration and social interaction. This was the first L’Oréal location in the United States to utilize a flexible seating plan.