With Studio O+A, Primo Orpilla and his business (and life) partner, Verda Alexander, first took the workplace world by storm during the Silicon Valley boom of the 1990s. Among other hallmarks, Orpilla and Alexander’s work helped popularize open office layouts and creative, playful aesthetics to tell a brand’s story and embrace its culture. Throughout the 2000s, the San Francisco-based studio elevated forward-thinking design for digital-age giants like Facebook, Microsoft, Yelp, Uber, and more.
Today, Studio O+A is a global, multidisciplinary business serving clients in all work sectors via commercial interior design, branding, environmental graphics, and design consulting. Contract recently sat down with Primo Orpilla to chat about the evolution of workplace design.
Workplace Design: How long have you specialized in workplace design?
Primo Orpilla: Counting the years before we started our firm, I’ve been designing workspaces for nearly 40 years now. When I started here in the Bay Area, we were just beginning to see the transformation of tech from the military complex to consumer electronics, computers, and the Internet. I happened to be here when Silicon Valley was just like the rest of the world: very hierarchical management structure, very structured, very linear. So I saw these workplaces progress from the days of engineering and software development into the really sophisticated workplaces of now.
What was it like navigating that switch to a different kind of workplace?
PO: The word was, “We don’t want to work in our dad’s place.” So we were thinking, “OK, what does that mean?” Well, there’s no desks, then; there’s no offices. There are benches, there are fun things to do. People are working there many, many hours, so how can we make it enjoyable and attractive for them to come and work any time of the day? It was a very young movement. We had a workforce that was coming straight out of college. And it was sort of like the college lifestyle—like living in a dorm or a 24/7 facility that had fun activities and food provided for you.
What effect did this have on the rest of the workplace sector?
PO: When other companies began to look at workplace projects from the Valley, their main argument for doing it was that they felt they’d lost their energy. They’d become bureaucratic, but they wanted that startup energy. And by 2017-2019, that’s what a lot of companies were doing. Everybody had open-plan design. They’d have a cheery, beautiful space to sit and eat and sometimes work, and happy hours to invigorate community. From 2010 [the year O+A designed Facebook’s headquarters] until just after COVID, it was a pretty long run, with companies leasing office spaces on both coasts, constantly taking big chunks of space because they needed more people.
And then, of course, the pandemic changed everything.
PO: Right. Now the whole workplace sector is rethinking everything. The pendulum has swung back and everyone is giving up extra space. Some companies are fully remote and will continue that way. But even those companies realize there’s something about being in the office together that makes culture and community grow. And I feel like that’s kind of where we’re at right now. We’re not quite ready to go 100 percent virtual, and I don’t know that we ever will be. But there’s something to be said for working a couple of days at home. What’s the right balance?
Are there other ways that tech companies have influenced workplace design today?
PO: A lot of workplace design has been influenced by Silicon Valley. And I would include in that the whole idea of culture and different generational workforces, non-hierarchical systems, acceptance, and inclusivity of differences. That’s all become front and center for every company. The generation of workers that’s coming into the workforce wants to be aligned with the companies they pick. So when that new hire comes in and sees your space, it needs to reflect some sort of philosophy that the company is taking care of them: What is the company doing to make me feel wanted, to make me feel special? And I think that’s a very Western thing, because it doesn’t happen in other countries as much. But guess what? They’re starting to look at it at that, too—because there’s a generation that’s seen too much of the world and what they could get if they worked in other sectors or for a Western company.
What are the “must haves” today, and what’s next?
PO: Food, health, social time, breaks, well-being, inclusiveness—these are all things we’re talking about that have been around, but they haven’t been taken so seriously until now. Non-gendered restrooms with lockable doors and partitions that are more private. We’re looking really deeply into a lot of personal stuff being handled in the workplace. Can I bring my child to work? Can I bring my elderly parent to work? Maybe there are family spaces that could be helpful. Everybody’s still struggling with how many days in and how many days out and how flexible you can be as an employer. It’s really specific now and every company is different. As we’re working with clients, we really want to analyze the company a little bit more, make sure they’re thinking about their philosophy, their hiring practices, and how they want to treat people.
This interview was edited for space and clarity.