Ally Charlotte Center
Strategically located shared amenities and deliberate “immersion zones” address the client’s goal of breaking down vertical silos and bringing together employees spread across 26 floors.
Client
Ally Financial
Location
Charlotte, North Carolina
Markets/Services
Architecture, Corporate Interiors, Interiors, Lighting Design, Workplace, Workplace Strategy
A leading financial services company with the nation's largest all-digital bank and an industry-leading auto financing business, Ally was evolving and expanding rapidly, and ready a new, larger space in the heart of Charlotte. The firm selected a new mixed-use development on the edge of Charlotte’s central business district for its new home. The development reinforced Ally’s commitment to local community by acting as a magnet of activity, yet the mixed-use, 26-story tower posed some new challenges for Ally to maintain and enhance the esprit de corps that was an integral part of the company’s culture.
The new workplace overcomes these physical constraints with thoughtful strategies that connect employees with one another throughout the building, with Ally teammates in other cities, and with the locale immediately surrounding the facility. Through deliberate placement of social immersion zones and communicating stairs, the design creates new connections between floors, fostering spontaneous interactions among disparate groups of employees throughout the day.
The project began with a series of employee surveys and workshops to understand user needs, issues, and priorities. Ally’s “people first” ethos was a key driver of the project.
Leadership prioritized employee wellbeing and the ability to engage with one another. It wanted to provide amenities that would draw people together, provide healthy respite during the workday, and assist in the company’s recruitment and retention efforts.
The second floor has a local community focus, with amenities that are magnets for the entire workforce including space for all hands presentations, a two-story fitness center, a large conferencing suite, testing labs, wellness clinic, and respite zones. A tech focused ideation center is also located on the third floor. Other immersion zones including an art studio, a music studio, a NASCAR simulator—are scattered throughout floors, encouraging employees to move throughout and interact with one another. Multiple street-facing retail shops and restaurants at ground level, reinforce connections to the community.
Each floor is organized so that social spaces are directly adjacent to the elevator cores. The further from the cores, the more focused the workspaces become. The core is surrounded by meetings rooms, larger ones adjacent to the social spaces and elevator lobbies, smaller ones further away. Interior colors and furnishings identify collaboration zones (warm tones) and technology zones (cool tones), underscoring the company’s message of uniting collaboration and innovation. Buoyed by the success of its new office, and anchoring its commitment to the community, Ally transitioned from leasing a part of the building to purchasing it outright in the first year of occupancy. The workplace has achieved WELL Gold and LEED Gold certification.