When online innovator PayPal adopted a branding strategy distinct from corporate parent eBay, the remodel of its 4-story multi-office headquarters in San Jose had to be accomplished without demolition or new construction. Our design employed finishes, carpet, lighting, furniture and interior graphics to make a 280,000 square foot complex functional and easy to use while communicating emphatically: PayPal.

A key component was a lobby as tech-savvy and as easy to use as the company’s own web-based service. We equipped this spacious informal lounge with games for staff members taking a break, an interactive media screen to communicate the company’s history to visitors and large photographs of people from many countries to express the global nature of the business.

Because the existing complex was laid out in identically symmetrical patterns navigation from department to department could be confusing for visitors and employees alike. We deployed interior wall graphics and customized branding elements on every floor to give each area an identifiable, employee-selected “theme” (the sky, the ocean, money), thus establishing orientation signposts for wayfinding throughout the building.