IA Interior Architects and Studio O+A Collaborate on McDonald's New Chicago Headquarters

Almost 50 percent of the workplace is devoted to amenities. Office areas are open-plan, choice-enabled, and activity-based. All 2,400 employees are equipped with the necessary mobility tools to work almost anywhere in the 480,000-square-foot facility—from dinerlike booths tucked in corridors to a verdant roof deck. Areas around the M.C. Escher–inspired terrazzo staircase that staggers up the four-story central atrium are ground zero for impromptu hangouts and on-the-fly ideating. Wi-Fi and connectivity in the nine-story building are so robust you can dial into a conference call on your cell phone while exiting your car in the below-ground garage, hop on an elevator, and then join the meeting in the eighth-floor boardroom without dropping the call along the way. Visitors check in not with a receptionist but a tablet-wielding greeter à la the Apple Store.