In 2020, we were asked to transform an outdated office/warehouse building in San Jose into a market-ready building, allowing potential tenants to imagine the possibilities of the now-bright, high-ceilinged space. That market-ready buildout, with its new windows and open ceilings, attracted Lambda, a deep-learning company. When Lambda sought to collaborate with us to make the space their own, we were eager to continue the work we’d begun.

The program called for a truly hybrid workspace: office space for in-person and remote employees to touch down, drop in and meet and a manufacturing, testing and R+D area with regular team presence.

Visitors are welcomed into the reception area with a monolithic logo wall that glows with Lambda’s brand color. Inspiration for the wall came from one of the CEO’s favorite movies, Space Odyssey 2001.

The office space has desking solutions for in-person and remote staff, meeting and collaboration areas of various sizes to accommodate individual video calls to all-hands gatherings. The lofty, 22-foot-high ceiling allowed the team to subtly brand the space and provide acoustic solutions by using linear baffles in the shape of the logo.

To give employees a sense of belonging and introduce personalization in a space made for a largely remote workforce, we created an employee engagement wall to display employee-generated AI art. The artwork represents employees’ creativity and personalities but also features the work they do in deep learning hardware and software.

The center portion of the wall mirrors the monolithic wall up front with the Lambda logo displayed. On either side, a flexible panel system, faced with perforated metal, is lit from within and mimics the glow of a server room. Individual frames use magnets to allow employees to easily add and update the artwork and keep it fresh.