Dropbox Headquarters

General Contractors

Principal Builders, Inc.

Makers

dTank Furniture Design & Fabrication
Lindner Group
Zahner

Photographer

Chad Davies

Finishes

Caesarstone
Cambria
Interface
Object Carpet
Tretford
Mohawk Group
Marmoleum
Gym Pliteq
Research We Cork Flooring
Lobby Floor Seal Technology
RBC Tile
Fireclay
Daltile
K-13 Spray-on-System
Rockfon
Roppe
Stockham Construction Inc.
CYC Commercial Commercial, Inc. with Knoll Fabric
Lindner
Benjamin Moore

FF&E

TWO Furnish
Artek
CW Keller & Associates
dTank Furniture Design & Fabrication
HPL Contract
Martin Brattrud
Pair
Vitra
Zahner
Adico
Ana Kras for MatterMade
Andrew Woodside Carter
Ania Jaworka
Arflex
Big Duck Canvas
Bludot
Bolia
Bruno Matteson
Camira
Cassina
Concreteworks
Corral Design USA
Dekko
Destroyer
Donald Judd
Driade
Ecobirdy
Eero Saarinen
EO
ESI
Fabricut
Faye Too Good
Folco Orlandini
Gervasoni
Gubi
Herman Miller
Hightower
InClass
Jasper Morrison for Maruni
Jens Risom
Jonathan Mueke
Jonus Lutz
Kartell
Kay Chesterfield
Kvadrat
Knoll
Lambert Kamps
Magis
Magnusson
Maharam
Marenco
Mario Bellini
Mattiazi
Max Lamb for Hem
Missana
Molteni
Moroso
Nordi Rugs
Paradiso Terrestre
Phillippe Malouin
Plyroom
Popp
Sven Markelius
Swedese
Tacchini Lounge Furniture
The Rug Co.
TON
USM
Vertigo Vird
Viccarbe

Consultants, Engineers,
Sub-contractors

Forell/Elsesser Engineers
Taylor Engineering LLC
Western Allied Mechanical
Decker Electric
DPW
PAW, Design Workshops
Auerbach Consultants
David Carroll Associates, Inc.
Lumibuild
Diversified

Designing for the Senses
When approaching Dropbox’s new headquarters, they set aspirational goals, seeking a workplace that would “unleash creative energy” for a diverse workforce and foster connection, curiosity, and creativity. This 736,000 SF headquarters resolves those aspirational goals with a sensory-inspired design that allows for flex interior spaces as their business evolves, continuously reimagining how they do business and how they support a productive, healthy work style.

Architecturally, the building is divided into four interconnected sectors along a vibrant urban street in San Francisco’s Mission District. The architecture re- envisions technology work as a creative and collaborative practice. The headquarters invites discovery and collaboration while prioritizing wellness for its employees.

The light-filled open floor plan and rooftop gardens, frame panoramic views of the cityscape and the bay. Floors are subdivided into a series of flexible neighborhoods featuring workspaces, conference rooms, single-occupancy workrooms, an open meeting area, and clustered conversational seating. Flexible wall systems and movable furniture allow a variety of desk and seating configurations for heads-down work, collaboration, group meetings, or one-on-one dialogue. Neutral finishes—white ceilings, cork partitions, semi-transparent screens, exposed ceiling, glass-front conference rooms, natural light—elevate the quality of the workspaces, providing a visually clean setting for creative work.

The interior blends workspaces with community spaces, allowing team members to move throughout all four sectors for different sensory, social, or business experiences. Each floor offers a variety of spaces supporting a holistic approach to work/life balance, collaboration, and wellness. Amenities include two floors of foodservice/cafeteria, full commissary kitchen, coffee cafe, one floor dedicated to R&D, mother’s room, family lounge, gym, meditation room, yoga room, library, exhibit space, black box theater, AV studio, graphics studio, and game room. Each space reflects a unique sensory aesthetic, with finishes, furnishings, lighting, and acoustics enhancing the activity or experience within.

The design of our headquarters totaling 736,000 square feet was a massive undertaking by the entire project team. Our mission was to design a more enlightened way of working. Every design decision we made was informed by our mission. Seeking to celebrate the whimsy of Dropboxers and the culture of working at Dropbox through our spaces. These design principles were inspired by our product design principles; having a clean, simple, and focused workspace for our users, translates in a way that informs how we design our physical environments.

The team successfully balanced the needs for an amenity-rich offering, while matching the practical programming requests for heads down and collaborative work. Heads down spaces cut away distractions by using neutral and natural palettes, that allows our work to come to the surface and bring in color and life. Allowing us to focus, achieve flow, and work better together.

The design team combined their expertise and paired a space to work with a world-class kitchen, karaoke lounge, game room, and coffee shop. The wellness areas matched those of an upscale gym and spa and the family and nursing room blurred the lines between work and home.