The Children’s Place
Corporate Headquarters
Secaucus, New Jersey

70,000 SF • 6,500 SQ M

Davis Brody Bond teamed with workplace strategy specialists DEGW to conceptualize and build a new headquarters for The Children’s Place. The rapidly expanding retailer was eager to explore innovative workspaces to promote collaboration among their design, production, and merchandising staff.

Our charge was to insert contemporary offices, a store mock-up, and a distribution facility into a featureless warehouse shell. To begin, we conducted user interviews, workshops, and an employee survey that identified a strong attachment to cohesive, informal work environments and foregrounded the importance of communication in managing the constant cycle of merchandising seasons. Based on this data, we designed a modular workstation spine that could be customized with screens, storage units, and furniture for users ranging from self-directed accounting personnel to team-oriented merchandising clusters.

To transform the existing warehouse, we inserted an upper level and cut out windows, skylights, and open stairs. The office layout is a matrix that lets the core design teams interact closely with their production and sales counterparts. A large central commons accommodates dining, fashion shows and stockholder meetings. At the client’s direction, we incorporated materials used in their retail stores to reinforce their brand image. The design includes a full scale store mock-up that functions as a laboratory to test and refine merchandising concepts.

The project received several honors, including the Business Week / Architectural Record “Good Design Is Good Business” Award for its innovative design of light, open work spaces that foster creativity and collaboration.

(Photography by Paúl Rivera)