This year, the BostInno team took tours of startups and tech companies all over the Boston area. Some of these belonged to tech heavyweights—think Facebook, DraftKings and recently minted unicorn ezCater—while others belonged to small, scrappy startups.
Tech offices tend to have common themes. Snacks, cold brew on tap, game tables and open layouts are practically a given. This year, it was the details that made certain offices stand out from the crowd. For example, corporate travel startup Lola.com has a stage custom-made for its in-house band, Purple Haze. And DraftKings' headquarters boasts a barber shop and a nail salon alongside the standard tech company accoutrements.
Here are the 19 offices and co-working spaces that we thought deserved another look.
After a 15-month transition period, the social media giant finished up its relocation from One Broadway to 100 Binney St. in Kendall Square in January.
The new Boston office shares several features with other Facebook spaces around the world, including an open floor plan, wood paneling, exposed ceiling and a general “unfinished look,” site lead Laney Zamore said. But many features are Boston-specific, such as the three walking paths that decorate each of the three floors (inspired by the Freedom Trail, the Red Line track and the ‘Smoot’ unit of length created at MIT).
See more photos from Facebook's office here.
Nexamp
While Nexamp’s new office is no national park, it certainly makes you think about them.
From small succulents to large plants, the open office has dozens of plants everywhere. And every conference room is named after national park—Yosemite, Yellowstone, Denali, etc.
Nexamp Communication Manager Keith Hevenor said the office was intentionally green everywhere, not just because it gave the office a “homey” vibe and helped with air quality, but because Nexamp’s business has a strong environment focus—The company provides solar energy expertise for any stage of a solar project.
See more photos from Nexamp's office here.
PTC
Things didn’t look like this in Needham, for sure.
After 18 years in the greater Boston area, industrial software maker PTC—one of the biggest software companies in Massachusetts, with more than $1 billion in revenue and 6,000 employees worldwide—completed a move from Needham to 121 Seaport in Boston’s Seaport District, the same building that’s home to Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
The new HQ is spread across the six floors where employees work, plus one floor to demo PTC’s technologies to customers, which includes a medical lab, a smart manufacturing lab and a maker lab. In the building, PTC is also subleasing two more floors that it will eventually use to expand its workforce. The total adds up to nine floors, or 250,000 sq. ft.
See more photos of PTC's office here.
CyberArk
CyberArk, an Israeli-founded security company that provides multi-layered protection to secure privileged account information, remodeled and expanded its office in Newton.
After four months of renovation that ended in November last year, its headquarters in the U.S. increased from 21,000 to 32,000 sq. ft. CyberArk, co-founded by Udi Mokady in 1999, has offices in London, France, Germany, Spain, Amsterdam, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and Israel—its global headquarters. The Newton office has art from the Israel headquarters; it also includes a painting by the CEO’s wife and a wall design created by an intern.
See more photos of CyberArk's office here.
DraftKings
Fantasy sports company DraftKings moved offices from 125 Summer St. in downtown Boston to 222 Berkeley St. in the Back Bay neighborhood, occupying a whole city block.
“It’s the largest single floor space for a company in Boston,” said Graham Walters, chief people officer at DraftKings.
The office space offers employees several meeting and huddle rooms with ample common space with comfy couches for impromptu meetings and workspace. The conference rooms are named after employees, notable entrepreneurs (Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs) and sports personalities (Michael Phelps, Serena Williams).
See more photos of DraftKings' office here.
Navya in the Cambridge Innovation Center
At patient services startup Navya, the office isn’t an office at all—it’s part of the vast co-working space the Cambridge Innovation Center at One Broadway, just upstairs from Kendall/MIT on the Red Line. Inside, you’ll find soundproof phone booths, a wealth of stocked kitchens, and even a low-lit “living room” where employees go to work in peace.
It’s a perfect arrangement for Navya, a small company headquartered in Cambridge with a large office in Bangalore, India. Navya uses machine learning to analyze ideal treatments for individual cancer patients. The core research and development and product teams work in the CIC, while 55 other employees are across the globe, although they join their co-workers in Massachusetts from time to time.
See more photos of Navya's space in the Cambridge Innovation Center here.
Veson Nautical
You might need to take Dramamine before stepping into the office of Veson Nautical, a company that provides software to maritime commercial management agencies. The fourth-floor office at 500 Boylston St. takes the meaning of nautical to a new level, with model ships and oceanic decor scattered around the space. The kitchen is even galley-style.
Other nautical quirks include a porthole-like window on a conference room door, an old shipping bell rung to celebrate sales, and the conference room naming system: They are all named after ships. That includes the library—”LNG Library,” named after Liquefied Natural Gas—a conference room with two walls filled with books, along with a couple of armchairs.
See more photos of Veson Nautical's office here.
The Wing
The Wing, a co-working and community space created by and for women, opened its eighth location nationwide, and its first in Boston, in Back Bay in June.
The 10,500-sq.-ft. space sprawls across the 15th and 16th floors of 699 Boylston St., with sweeping views overlooking Copley Square and the Prudential Center. The office was entirely designed by The Wing’s three-person in-house interior design team, led by Laetitia Gorra.
“With pretty much every detail, we’re designing spaces for women,” said spokeswoman Yasmin Shahida. “I think when people have historically designed spaces for women, it’s been led by men designing those spaces and designing them for what they think women want.”
See more photos of The Wing's co-working space in Boston here.
LabCentral
Bright green grass and a scattering of colorful patio chairs frame the entrance to LabCentral’s main workspace, a 70,000 sq. ft. facility just a short walk from MIT.
The layout of LabCentral’s office is designed for open collaboration. Private offices are walled with glass, and private lab spaces have glass windows looking out into the hallway. Wherever possible, even corners are rounded rather than sharp, allowing employees to more easily see each other while walking down the hallway.
See more photos of LabCentral's offices and lab space here.
T3 Advisors
Located at 1 Marina Park Dr. in the Seaport District, modern real estate firm T3 Advisors’ 5,000-sq.-ft. office space focuses on function and flexibility.
With no assigned seating, employees adapt to their workplace environment based on their tasks for the day. Even with flex seating, spaces are available for individual and collaborative work.
“You would sit in a more collaborative work space if you’re working with peers, or even more traditional, cubicle-based wall system, if you’re wanting more head-down space,” said Morgan Mosher, principal at T3 Advisors.
See more photos of T3 Advisors' office here.
ezCater
On a Monday morning in July, 30 new employees began their first day at ezCater, the online catering marketplace that reached unicorn status just over three months earlier. The group was welcomed by bright green lighting in elevator banks, couches with plushes shaped like avocados and lattes, and nine fireplaces adorned with neon, cartoonish foods.
The new employees, who brought the total Boston headcount to 527, were the first to call this space home. ezCater had moved into the four-story office in Post Office Square exactly one week prior. The space is designed to accommodate 750 people total, according to public relations manager Sara Nash.
See more photos of ezCater's office here.
Cengage
In June this year, Cengage, a global educational technology company, moved into its brand-new space at 200 Pier Four Blvd. in the Seaport District. Cengage shares the space with Boston Consulting Group.
The office stretches across five floors and 80,000 sq. ft. and features a rooftop deck with views of the Boston Harbor. Cengage’s 600 employees have the opportunity to do work in front of a garden wall while watching planes depart from Logan Airport. The new office was designed by Gensler.
See more photos of Cengage's office here.
Red Thread
On the sixth floor of 101 Seaport Blvd. is Red Thread’s corporate headquarters, the Steelcase Worklife space—a living showroom with vast harbor views. Red Thread, in partnership with Steelcase, is a furniture dealer that uses design to create engaging workplace environments.
Walking through the large glass front doors, clients and employees immediately enter the WorkCafe, an area meant for eating, working and viewing the Boston Harbor.
See more photos of Red Thread's office here.
Underscore VC
Some of tomorrow’s top innovators are doing business out of a building that was completed in 1865.
Boston’s Old City Hall, nestled in a corner of Downtown Boston at 45 School St., has been operating as an office building since 1971. Underscore VC moved in just over a year ago and, over the summer, completed phase two of a three-stage renovation. The space is designed to welcome investors, incubating entrepreneurs and the firm’s UFirst Accelerator participants to collaborate.
See more photos of Underscore VC's office here.
Kronos
Multinational workforce management software company Kronos is taking over multiple towers at the southern end of Lowell.
Jonathan Proffitt, Kronos’ VP of global workplace solutions says that some 1,600 employees—he refers to them as “Kronites”—work in this space, a complex called “Cross Point.” Kronos moved here about two years ago.
With just over 500,000 sq. ft., Kronos is by far the largest tenant in Cross Point. The complex is about 1 million sq. ft. all told. And Kronos might yet take over more space. The company is growing quickly, having added 200 employees to its headcount in Lowell alone in the last two years.
See more photos of Kronos' office here.
Workbar
Boasting views of the historic City Hall and the Old South Meeting House, Workbar’s downtown co-working space combines the modern with the classic.
The 17,000-sq.-ft. space opened in September and offers a combination of open work space, quiet work space, private call rooms and offices.
“I would say our physical layout is 80 percent open space and 20 percent private space,” said Sarah Travers, CEO of Workbar.
See more photos of Workbar's co-working space here.
Affectiva
If you yell at the dragon in the middle of Affectiva’s new 16,187-sq.-ft. office, it jumps around and breathes fire in your direction.
It’s not a real dragon, of course. The adorable animated caricature comes alive with an interactive software that lets him react to people’s facial expressions. Affectiva is in the business of using technology to gauge emotions, so this is right in its wheelhouse. The company’s team created the demo area where the dragon lives, alongside TV screens displaying facial recognition software and a makeshift “car” that simulates the driving experience.
The demo area is only one of the many innovative elements in the five-month-old office.
See more photos of Affectiva's office here.
Drift
This June, sales software startup Drift expanded an already-large office onto an additional floor. After installing a central staircase and designing a previously barren level, the company now boasts a 60,000-sq.-ft. home in a historic Back Bay building.
Drift is clearly in its “hypergrowth” phase, ballooning in size right in front of its founders’ eyes. The startup employs 350 people today—almost three times the number it did this time last year. So the office expansion was warranted.
See more photos of Drift's office here.
Lola.com
For corporate travel startup Lola.com, a new office—28,000 sq. ft. on the 20th floor of One Financial Center, triple the size of its old office—is cause for celebration.
Since last year, Lola has more than doubled its headcount, from just 60 employees to about 125. Now, the company plans to add about 100 more. The space can support about 230 employees comfortably before the startup will have to start hunting for new space. That is, in fact, the plan: Lola’s sublease is for just two years, at which point the startup will likely begin its search for space all over again.
But that doesn’t mean time and thought weren’t put into this space. Co-founder Paul English led the design, ensuring that the new office reflects the heart of the four-year-old organization.
