We’ve been sharing about the Uber Branding and Visual Identity system and also their new Logotype on Abduzeedo. We would like to share an inside look at their gorgeous San Francisco office. Established in a 90,000 sq ft space, the Uber team is reflecting its brand by having their different rooms and areas built with materials that will coincide with their business models.
For example the Uber Black (the luxury car option) is represented by the black glass of that elevator lobby. It is also a vast space made up of many zones of comfort with communal areas and small enclaves for solo concentration. As we are know that Uber is known for being innovative, we are not surprised that the office will embody its quality as well. This office has been designed by O+A, a design studio based in San Francisco and New York City.
Like Uber’s service, the new office isn’t meant to be futuristic—just better. “There’s a mystique to Uber’s brand,” Cherry says. “It’s a sexy brand—kind of mysterious. That’s from the outside. From the inside they’re totally transparent.” Arrivals at the new office in San Francisco will experience that shift in perception physically.
The elevator lobby framed in onyx glass (like the tinted glass of a limousine) opens up into a white reception space with broad sightlines. O+A’s spaces always echo the philosophy of the client, but what sets an O+A design apart is the way it drills down into the minutiae of a company’s operation. The finish choices on this project reflect both branches of Uber’s two-tiered service. Uber Black, the luxury car option, is represented by the black glass of that elevator lobby and by stand-alone meeting structures clad in copper and oxidized maple. Inside are leather wall panels laser-etched with the maps of cities in which Uber operates. Uber X, the economy car alternative, finds expression in raw concrete floors, raw steel and the Polygal walls of an impromptu meeting space. Meeting rooms positioned throughout the vast footprint are equipped with wall-mounted touch-screen booking tablets next to the door so users can see at a glance what is scheduled for that space and reserve it hour by hour.