ThoughtWorks

2016 IIDA Give Award | 2016 IIDA People's Choice Award

Can a physical space be a vehicle for change? That was the question FENNIE+MEHL pondered when the global software development company ThoughtWorks tasked them to find and build out a new San Francisco office.

Committing to ThoughtWorks’ mission of passionately advocating for positive social and economic justice, F+M passed over real estate options in more affluent areas and found the perfect vacant space in the heart of the city, at a literal and symbolic intersection of new tech, urban grit and multicultural vibrancy.

The result is a humble yet hardworking, unpretentious yet inclusive design. More than one-third of the 11,000-square-foot office is dedicated to flexible, communal gathering space for partnering with and fostering local social justice organizations. As a narrative and backdrop to those gatherings, the design team created an infrastructure throughout the space’s public areas in order to rotate artwork by various local artists. This space has helped embed ThoughtWorks into the local community, and gave F+M not one but two Interior Design Association Awards – the Give Award and People’s Choice Award – in March of 2016.

ThoughtWorks’ San Francisco office perfectly reflects our mission to revolutionize software and advocate for positive social change. Thanks to FENNIE+MEHL, we now have a space that allows us to thrive and participate in the larger San Francisco tech and social impact communities. 

Joanna Parke, Group Managing Director, North America

Photography: Jasper Sanidad