Valerio Dewalt Train recently renovated VMWare's Promontory headquarters campus in Palo Alto, consisting of five 80,000-square-foot two-story office buildings on a 29-acre site, to allow the company to increase headcount, facilitate collaboration, and transition to a mostly open office layout.
The recently completed first phase, the Promontory E building, serves as a prototype to test ideas for revamping the remaining four buildings. VDT placed private offices toward the interior, arranging open office space along the perimeter to provide views to the campus's mature redwoods and oaks and bring in plentiful daylight. To continue the nature theme inside, VDT developed large wall graphics that represent constellations in varying degrees of abstraction throughout the offices
To break up the large floor plates, workstations are organized into neighborhoods of about 40 each, separated by screens and an array of collaborative spaces. Strategic selection of acoustically appropriate materials, ceiling treatments, and floor treatments helps keep ambient noise down in work areas. The quad workstation layout is designed to handle benching should VMWare decide to further increase headcount. The renovation also replaced finishes to provide a warmer, brighter color palette.
Photography: Bruce Damonte