AirBnB EMEA Headquarters, The Warehouse | Dublin

Dublin, Ireland

Housed in one of the last remaining warehouse buildings that were so characteristic of the Dublin dockands, the new EMEA headquarters building for Airbnb is designed as a workspace for 400 people. To make one workspace where people can freely move between the 3 floors, the rooflit atrium at the centre of the building is reimagined as a staircase.

The workspace is flexible - people are free to work throughout the space, however it is recognised that the important of base, a place to gravitate towards and provide storage. Each neighbourhood also contains a ‘landing space’- furniture with an open locker for each person, a niche to hang coats, and mantelpiece- where team members can make their own displays and call it home.

To make one workspace where people can freely move between the 3 floors, the rooflit atrium at the centre of the building is reimagined as a staircase. Full-width slow stairs lead from the ground to the lower ground creating an amphitheatre for “all-hands events” and a meeting space for day to day use. Wrapping across the atrium, a light stair leads from the ground to the first with balcony mid-flight looking back over the space. The walkways around the atrium become balconies, an informal theatre as the soul of the space. A new stairway at the entrance is conceived of as a series of small lounges that lift up to provide view back to the canal basin and the city.

Around this central area the workspaces, which take advantage of perimeter glazing, are organised into interconnected groups- “neighbourhoods” of open place works areas, lounge areas and rooms of varying size which create multiple possibilities for meetings and quiet time. The pods that house the meeting rooms are arranged around the All Hands space, sometimes pulled back to allow for circulation, sometimes pushed out to create a cantilevered volumes in a spatial dynamic that plays against the typical rectilinear and symmetrical atrium.

Food as a place of gathering and hospitality is central to Airbnb. The lower ground floor level houses an open kitchen and dining space, providing breakfast and lunch. Kitchenettes are also located at the entrance to each floor level, creating a social space that links back to the central All Hands space.

The material palette uses dark steel set against Oak to create a warm core for the All-Hands. Around this the workspaces are cool and simple- white painted walls, exposed services and galvanised steel floor tiles. A concrete floor in the entrance, and exposed concrete walls hark back to the industrial heritage of the warehouse.

Fact sheet

Client:

Airbnb

Date:

May 2016

Status:

Completed

Location:

Dublin, IE

Size:

3300m2

Collaborators

Architecture:

Airbnb

Structures|Civil:

Eireng

M&E:

AxisEng

Lighting:

Bartenbach Lichtlabor

QS:

KMCS

Acoustics:

AWN