The Publicis Groupe offices will occupy 225,000 square feet of a historic building currently undergoing a gut renovation and the construction of a modern seven-story addition. © Elkus Manfredi Architects
“They wanted ultimate flexibility in their new headquarters so they could utilize any team member for any project,” says Elizabeth Lowrey, principal at Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects. The firm was challenged to bring teams from five distinct brands of the global company Publicis Groupe under one roof in Boston. (Previously, each brand had a separate Boston office.) While the new office would leverage the sharing of talent and resources, the workplace’s design also had to maintain “each individual company’s identity. It’s the mission impossible.” The two-year project, whose first phase will be completed May 2018, saw the firm collaborate with Publicis Groupe’s employees to an extraordinary degree.
On the client side, Publicis Groupe knew the change would be enormous for the 2,000 employees moving to the new site. Each brand had been physically siloed; they had not worked together before. The company’s leadership opted for a two-year timeframe during which its workers could become stakeholders in the new design, shaping it to their needs in the process. “It was critical for our project’s success to find a firm that could provide focus to the design process, employee engagement, [and] change management,” says Timothy Bergen, Publicis Groupe’s director of real estate projects.