Rubicon HQ

With a growing staff and program needs, the Rubicon Project commissioned Montalba Architects to design a technology-driven corporate headquarters reflective of their core values — cooperation, communication, openness — and usable as a recruitment tool for their ever-expanding cadre of engineers and designers. Program responded to both typical office requirements and the evolving cultural aspects of Rubicon’s brand: collaborative semi-enclosed meeting pods; massive pivoting transparent whiteboards throughout for on-the-fly brainstorming sessions and space dividing; an open office floor, where staffers maintain a visual connection with one another; and the reception area, featuring the Network Operations Center, or NOC, a series of LED 18 screens displaying real-time data and highlighted by a custom-designed curved glass enclosure. Technology displays throughout reiterate TRP’s core mission of providing data-driven advertising innovations, while materials such as wood, fritted glass, honed concrete, and a custom graphics package soften the edges of the space and add a human scale. The “central park” unites the vast floorplan, linking landmarks such as all-hands-on-deck meeting areas and the outdoor terrace, and providing wayfinding via a  continuous wood slat ceiling hung on a blackened steel frame.