Companies that exuded youthful cool and technical innovation were usually to be found in bland, corporate business parks. But all that is changing – and fast. This week Google announced plans for a £1bn London office in King’s Cross, Apple has commissioned Lord Foster to design a huge headquarters in California, and Facebook is working on plans for its new HQ with the architect of the Bilbao Guggenheim, Frank Gehry.
Of course, it is Apple, one of the world’s most valuable companies, that leads the way. Last September, it was named the best design studio of the past 50 years at the prestigious D&AD Awards. All 16 members of Apple’s design team flew to London from their base in San Francisco to collect the award, including their leader, the recently knighted Sir Jonathan Ive, now probably the most influential industrial designer on the planet.
Apple is not the first tech outfit to realise the value of design – both of its products and of its buildings. In 1956, IBM commissioned architect Eliot Noyes to oversee all aspects of its design. Paul Rand, a graphic designer, was commissioned to create IBM’s logo and he went on to attempt to bring all the corporation’s outlets, warehouses and factories into aesthetic line.