take stock of their history in order to look
forward,’ O+A founder and principal Primo
Orpilla says. ‘This wasn’t in the brief at all
- in fact, they really wanted to stay away
from the past. But in the end, we helped
them realize that you can tell this story
most strongly by including nods to the past
without going as far as the expected golden
arches and clowns.’
‘They’re evolving as a company and
they’re listening to the market as well as
the customer base. Their brand has meant
so many things, but they’re now leading in
things like making kids meals healthier and
re-evaluating supply chains and sources,’ O+A
design director Elizabeth Verecker says. ‘I
think the design is a manifestation of where
the company is now.’
‘They’re actually quite modest,’ Orpilla
continues. ‘Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing - they’re not about flash, they are about con-
stant innovation and a tremendous amount
of business acumen. We needed to bring all
that that history and context into the space.’
The new headquarters also houses
Hamburger University, which, despite its
punchline of a name, is a dead serious pillar
of McDonald’s corporate strategy. Previously,
each space occupied its own silo, and so the
unification gave the designers an opportu-
nity to put some of the U’s fun collection
of artefacts, such as its extensive library of
decades of Happy Meal toys, on display. ‘In
the very posh old headquarters, you never
really understood that McDonald’s was such
a research-focused, iterative company – it
was all serious wood panelling and could’ve
been any old corporate headquarters,’ Orpilla
says. ‘We brought these artefacts out and
displayed them beautifully and as a result, the
new space does a much better job of telling
that story.’ – TC
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