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HSBC’s New York HQ

M Moser Associates

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Silver
Meeting rooms, focus areas and breakout zones are positioned around the base of the staircase to encourage spontaneous interactions and collaboration. - Garrett Rowland
Leveraging smart building technology enables data-driven adjustments to optimise the environment and ensure ongoing employee support. - Garrett Rowland
Our design focuses on elevating the employee experience through adaptable spaces, technology and sustainability initiatives across the five-floor stack. - Garrett Rowland
Meeting rooms, focus areas and breakout zones are positioned around the base of the staircase to encourage spontaneous interactions and collaboration. - Garrett Rowland

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Large Office
7.40
7.95
7.65
7.80
7.7
Alexander Fehre
Alexander Fehre Founder at Studio Alexander Fehre
7.5
8
8
7
7.63
Donald Strum
Donald Strum President at Michael Graves Design
Clean, posh, and modern spaces with...
8
8.5
8.5
9.5
8.63
Kaan Alpagut
Kaan Alpagut Design Manager, Workplace Experience at The Lego Group
A successful take on connecting peo...
7.5
8.5
8.5
9
8.38
Hilda Impey
Hilda Impey Creative Partner and Founder at Hilda Impey Studio
An interesting submission for finan...
7
8
7
7
7.25
Wenke Lin
Wenke Lin Founder and Design Director at BDSD Boundless Design
7.5
8
7
7.5
7.5
Monika Choudhary
Monika Choudhary Cofounder and Creative Director at Habitat Architects
The project successfully gestures t...
7
7.5
7
7
7.13
Sabine de Schutter
Sabine de Schutter Founder and CEO at Studio De Schutter
8
8.5
9
8.5
8.5
Yuko Tsukumo
Yuko Tsukumo General Manager at Nikken Sekkei
7
7.5
7
7.5
7.25
Maud Capet
Maud Capet Associate Principal - Interior Design at OBMI
8.5
9
8.5
9
8.75
Robben Bai
Robben Bai Founder at Roarc Renew Architects
6
6
6
6
6

HSBC’s relocation to The Spiral in Hudson Yards was driven by a bold ambition: to create the most sustainable, inclusive and technologically advanced workplace in New York City and across its global portfolio. M Moser led the integrated design and delivery, providing services from architecture and interior design to engineering, sustainability, branding and smart building technology.

The design reimagines the corporate headquarters as a living system—one that learns, adapts and empowers. It challenges traditional norms with a vertically connected five-floor hub that promotes interaction and agility while maximizing daylight, greenery and outdoor access through 13,000 sq ft of landscaped terraces. Features like bleacher seating, wellness zones, flexible event spaces and garden-adjacent staircases offer moments of delight, comfort and community. From ambient quiet zones to spontaneous collaboration areas, the workplace supports the full spectrum of human needs and experiences.

At its core, the space is a testbed for innovation. A fully integrated digital twin enables real-time measurement, prediction and iteration of HSBC’s workplace, empowering both users and facility managers to make informed, adaptive choices. Centrally located dashboards allow employees to engage with their environment: lighting, temperature, occupancy and air quality—ushering in a new era of transparent, human-responsive design.

Creatively, the space blends architectural and brand storytelling. The interiors reflect an ‘elevated industrial’ language—concrete, corten steel, warm metals and jewel-toned accents—that echoes The Spiral’s materiality while expressing HSBC’s identity. Interior cascades mimic the building’s exterior terraces, reinforcing a sense of flow and vertical connectivity.

Designed for Zero Carbon construction and operations, and targeting certifications including WELL, LEED, RESET, GUDC and BLUE, the project reduced energy usage by 30%, improved acoustics and visual comfort and incorporates water collection systems to nourish layered landscaping. Over 70% of furniture contributes to carbon reduction goals, and materials were locally sourced to reduce embodied emissions.

Since completion, employee attendance has doubled from 40% to 80%. The workplace is drawing people in—not by mandate, but as a magnet of merit. By aligning people, planet and performance, this headquarters sets a new benchmark for what’s possible in commercial design. It offers a timeless yet future-forward model that inspires, includes and endures