Mozilla Corporation Global Office Design
Case Study
LOCATION Headquarters & Offices Worldwide | DATES 2009 – 2014 | SIZE
155,000 SF
“Coding” the workspace of a premiere open-source software company TYPE Workplace SERVICES Stakeholder Engagement Workplace Programming Program Specifications Design Guidelines Master Planning Vision Development
CHALLENGE | Translate Mozilla’s corporate values— transparency, openness, and opportunity—and crowd-sourced product development model into a global workplace design that promotes collaboration and creativity. CONTEXT | A non-profit foundation, Mozilla applies a community-based approach to create world-class, opensource software. Its Firefox web browser is the third mostused in the world and like all of its products, is the result of the collaborative efforts of its community of 40,000 paid and volunteer members. Entering a new phase of growth, Mozilla sought to strengthen its member community with the establishment of offices in key technology hubs around the world—to support its product development model, promote the brand, and attract the talent necessary to stay competitive.
© 2018 MKThink
APPROACH | MKThink’s user-centered process aligns with Mozilla’s collaborative, crowd-sourced development model. Leveraging the “wisdom of crowds”, the project team engaged and solicited the opinions of more than 200 Mozillians.
STEVE KELLEY, AIA Principal MKThink
Steve brings more than 25 years of architectural and planning experience to corporate workplace design. Clients include General Motors, Stanford University, and Sun Microsystems.
Online surveys, in-person interviews, and participatory workshops at all-hands meetings uncovered trends and challenges. The project team conducted extensive site observations to document user behavior and space utilization. Qualitative and quantitative data gathered from this research yielded insights that informed the ultimate design. KEY FINDINGS • 50% of employee hours spent in collaborative mode. • 50% of non-engineers expressed need for collaborative workspaces. • 50% of collaborative work occurs in conference rooms, 30% at individual workstations. • 60% occurrence of under-occupied meeting rooms (1-person average for 4-person capacity room). • Mismatch between advertised and actual utilization of meeting rooms, refuting the perceived lack of availability. ROOM UTILIZATION & OCCUPANCY 2% break social
JIM COOK
CFO, Mozilla Corporation MKThink coded our new space with the same passion, opensource, and collaboration methodologies for which we code our software products.
collaborating working at computer
phone video conference
Large Conference
Small Conference
Small Conference
Employee surveys and site observations provided a usage baseline to inform spatial needs.
STRATEGY | MKThink devised a three-tier strategy: 1. Respond to the functional needs of different departments, employee typologies, and volunteers. 2. Design a standardized layout that optimizes adjacencies of departments and collaborative spaces while ensuring privacy and limiting noise levels for individual workstations. 3. Build in flexibility so space can adapt to organizational needs on a day-to-day basis and over time.
Mozilla Corporation: Global Office Design
© 2018 MKThink
Spaces were rightsized and diversified to cater to different work modalities: phone booths, collaborative spaces, individual workstations, product testing rooms, cafĂŠs, casual seating.
The project team prototyped configurations to optimize the design of collaborative spaces
Typologies 75 Workstations 32-50 Collaborative 10 Conference Rooms 2 Meeting Rooms 2 Phone Rooms Staff Options a. 32 Desks b. 82 Chairs c. 128 Stand-up Stations
Aligning square footage to user needs reduced form factor from 150 SF to 25 SF.
Mozilla Corporation: Global Office Design
Š 2018 MKThink
Featured use of glass emphasizes the corporate values of openness and transparency.
The open office, cubicle-free layout is an expression of egalitarianism. Not even the CEO has a private office
Mozilla Corporation: Global Office Design
Š 2018 MKThink
Located in the landmark Hills Brothers building, the San Francisco Flagship office features a roof terrace overlooking the bay.
RESULT | MKThink translated company-wide spatial intelligence into Design Guidelines, which physically define Mozilla’s universal values of transparency, openness, and opportunity. With built-in flexibility, they are easily replicable and localizable to the cultures of offices around the world. MKThink continues to act as an advisor to facility managers on global implementation. • Design Guidelines implemented in completed build outs of 3 Bay Area locations: Corporate Headquarters, San Francisco Flagship, and another Silicon Valley location • Bay Area offices serve as implementation models and feature: -- State-of-the art, open-source technology integrated into building systems -- Integrated communication system that networks 25 offices and a remote, globally dispersed workforce and enables their participation in all-hands meeting. -- Increased quantity, variety, and technology of collaborative spaces -- Co-working spaces open to volunteer Mozillians to honor their contribution and foster collaboration with other members of the community. -- Innovative room scheduling system activated by motion sensors in POE lighting, boasting a 2-year ROI from energy savings. -- Flagship San Francisco office featuring rooftop event and recruiting venue • The Design Guidelines were rolled out globally in in London, Paris, Berlin, and Toronto.
Mozilla Corporation: Global Office Design
© 2018 MKThink
1500 Sansome Street | San Francisco, California 94111 mkthink.com | office@mkthink.com | 415.420.0888 Š 2018 MKThink