Hospitality-inspired workplaces are transforming corporate offices into destinations designed to encourage connection and voluntary attendance. STACK Interiors applied this approach to One New Zealand’s Wynyard Quarter workplace, which consolidates 1,200 employees across three levels. Built around a “new offsite” concept, the space combines areas for focused work and hybrid collaboration with winter gardens, a community kitchen and a double-height social hub. Atrium bridges and architectural stairs encourage spontaneous interactions, while warm natural materials and cultural references to Aotearoa balance the workplace’s technology-focused elements.
For One New Zealand, creating a more experiential headquarters could strengthen collaboration between employees, partners and cross-functional teams while making office attendance more appealing. Consolidating staff within a flexible environment may also improve space utilization and organizational connectivity. For employers more broadly, the project demonstrates how hospitality, wellness and cultural storytelling can help physical offices provide value beyond conventional desk-based work.
Image Credit: STACK Interiors
What's Driving This Trend
- Destination Offices
- Corporate workplaces are becoming experience-rich destinations where social hubs, curated amenities and flexible work settings make in-person attendance feel more purposeful.
- Hospitality-led Design
- Hotel-inspired interiors introduce warmth, service cues and communal spaces into offices, creating new potential for workplace models centered on comfort, connection and brand affinity.
- Cultural Workplace Storytelling
- Local materials, Indigenous references and regional design narratives give offices a stronger sense of place, differentiating corporate environments beyond standardized workplace planning.
Who This Affects Most
- Commercial Interior Design
- Design firms can expand workplace strategies by blending productivity planning with hospitality, wellness and cultural identity to redefine the modern office brief.
- Corporate Real Estate
- Flexible headquarters that consolidate teams while supporting hybrid collaboration present new pathways for improving space utilization and employee engagement.
- Workplace Technology
- Technology providers have opportunities to integrate collaboration tools into warmer, more human-centered office environments where digital infrastructure supports spontaneous interaction.
