Valve’s new headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, consists of 16722 m2 of office and amenity space spanning 9 floors for 500+ employees. Working with a Bellevue-based Executive Architect, JPC Architects, the Design Team implemented a dynamic design solution that incorporated flexible workspace for the software and hardware departments with a cafeteria, café spaces, training facilities, audio suites, a motion capture room, and a family play room.
Building from Valve’s deep-rooted cabal system of self-organized, multidisciplinary project teams, the new workplace is supported by a variety of open and enclosed collaboration spaces. Cabals combine dedicated meeting spaces with semi-enclosed work pods that provide additional privacy for more “heads-down” work. More importantly, the circulation supports not only the free flow of people moving throughout the office, but also the free flow of work-desks-on-wheels, as developers regularly move between individual cabals.
Connecting feature stairs provide a direct route from hardware cabals on the lowest floor to software cabals at the highest. Just as the central core concept provides more intimate and subtle experiences where workspace is positioned while expanding its scale and reach at the communal spaces, the connecting stairs are more compact at the extremities and stretched out at the central amenity floors. Floor openings at the south perimeter curtain wall reveal expansive views of Bellevue, Seattle, and the greater Pacific Northwest.
