LinkedIn Maude Deep Focus

Tasked with reimagining an underutilized, windowless zone of a recently renovated building at LinkedIn’s Sunnyvale campus, the design team aimed to answer a key question: What if focus is the new workplace amenity?

The future of work is evolving, as are the ways in which employees are using spaces. People are increasingly choosing settings that best suit their needs and moods on any given day, as found in research conducted by both the client and the design firm. This insight, paired with the site’s lack of daylight, led to the ideation of Maude Deep Focus: a first-of-its-kind, curated campus destination. The three-chamber ecosystem explores how materiality, scale, transparency, light levels, sound, and layers of visual privacy controlled by the user contribute to the individual ability to focus.

A long tunnel lined with dark hand-troweled plaster that reflects light serves as the entry threshold to Maude Deep Focus, signaling a shift in mindset as one progresses into the first chamber. Upon entry, employees are welcomed into a warm, wood, and book-filled environment that supports a variety of work postures, offering an ideal setting to focus alone while maintaining interpersonal connection.

The second chamber is more protected and cocooned in nature, layering in open, dark nooks with drapery to limit distractions and built-in booths in a variety of scales. The third chamber consists of multiple smaller rooms, each with deeper material palettes and lower lighting levels. Acoustic, tufted wallpapers and hospitality-inspired lighting provide a sense of comfort.

At its core, Maude Deep Focus is a sensory experience. Included in the space are zones with tunable lighting and soft furniture settings for those that seek another layer of user control and adjustability.

A journey of customizable spaces, Maude Deep Focus is a model of the mood-based work environment of the future.