A+I collaborated with the French advertising giant Publicis Groupe on to reimagine a full floor at the heart of the company’s flagship building in Manhattan. The resulting space is a “Clubhouse” for their newly formed creative collective, “Le Truc” - designed to support and unlock creative potential across the organization. The project is emblematic of the new, more flexible, model of work and serves as the new center of gravity for creative culture at Publicis.

Through its development, the space became a new way to understand and support how creative work happens. By prioritizing and designing for the creative process, as opposed to conventional structures demarcated by agency, department, or client, the project has transformed how and where creative work happens. It is a novel initiative that has elevated the unique needs of the company’s creative professionals, delivering a space designed exclusively for them to congregate and ideate in, arranged around Publicis’ theory of creativity, and underpinned by A+I’s strategic investigation. We interrogated how, where, and when ideas are formed, nurtured, and reimagined – what happens at each step of the journey, where magic happens, and where things fall apart.

In response, we designed a plethora of non-deterministic spaces to suit every type of creative endeavor. There are bullpens, auditoriums, libraries, nooks, and niches near one another to enable an individual to collaboratively test an idea, or retreat to refine one. There are work lounges and a café that anchor the project, acting as magnetic spaces, generating buzz and collective energy.

Rather than designing for universality, the project’s playground-like landscape celebrates difference, with varying colors, light, and modes designed to let each person’s creativity do the leading. Whether it’s a pink tech-less meeting space hidden behind a mirrored door, a nook that’s dark and quiet, or a work counter sunken into the floor, everyone can find a place that works for them at any given moment. The result is not only a new space, but an inspired collective for Le Truc centered around and in support of the creative instinct.