Uber’s international office in Amsterdam celebrates and embraces the diversity and culture of their global community. While still incorporating Uber’s core values, the EMEA headquarters reflects the pulse and influences of Amsterdam while highlighting different regions of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. What emerged was a fusion of colors, materials, and patterns that perfectly expresses the notion of bringing people together.

The space is built around the concept of activity-based working. There are no assigned seats, instead employees are placed within team-based neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is multi-functional and akin to a small office.  There is an opportunity to personalize, an opportunity to come together in a comfortable setting, and an opportunity to meet formally all within the open environment.

Woven throughout the space is a complex network of places to meet and work. Every style of collaboration is represented from casual lounge spaces to tucked away hubs overlooking the canals, from an espresso bar to a restaurant. The diversity of space doesn’t end with collaboration and meeting spaces. The designers sought to incorporate how each person transitions and works throughout the day, by creating different experiences and alternative types of postures while working from standing work top tables to semi-private nooks to walking paths.

Visible throughout the atrium is a central staircase that acts as a connective spine between all four floors. The green, concentric rings, inspired by Amsterdam’s canals, spiral upward and become a central gathering point at each floor landing.  Clean lines, timeless materials, and local products are core to the Dutch design and bridges the surrounding neighborhoods and regions together.

Uber wanted to establish a sense of community throughout their workspace by placing a restaurant on the ground floor, putting it front and center. The layout is open with a variety of seating arrangements, and the materials are reminiscent of the cobblestones and bricks lining the portals and retail shops along the streets of Amsterdam.