Client: Uber

Location: San Francisco, CA, United States

Completion date: 2015

Project Team

Interior Designer

Colleen Masusako

Studio O+A

Artist

Will Chu

Overview

Uber saw the value of establishing a separate “start-up” space (19,000 sq ft) within the context of its larger headquarters. This is a space for teams to detach from the mother ship and work independently on special projects. It's the rebellious cousin of the Uber family, still very much of the same genetic make-up, but more openly irreverent, more clearly reflective of Uber's iconoclastic spirit.

Goals

Because it’s so personal (and time-specific) humor rarely gets aired in interior design, but Uber’s 11th floor is infused with the wit of its mold-breaker image. Two interior walls are wallpapered with hundreds of individual taxi receipts, a jab at the industry Uber has turned on its head in five years. (Look closely and you may spot a receipt from Travis Bickle).

This combination of informality, wit, bursting energy and a taste for comfort makes Uber’s 11th floor one of the most creatively stimulating—and sexy—spaces in recent workplace design.

Process

The image was hand lettered then later applied to the wall. Will Chu used several types of markers with different tips but ended up using a traditional sharpie since it was best suited for the look. He digitized it for further finessing.

Since the hallways were so narrow there wasn't a possible way for the designers to actually project an image onto the wall. The team made a bunch of oversized xeroxed and O A provided an infinite amount of colorless blenders which we then transferred the image onto the wall through blending magic.