6 Chicago Tech Offices Designed to Inspire

by Alton Zenon III
August 22, 2019

Sure, it’s possible to produce excellent work in a small room with four white walls, but where’s the fun in that? Office spaces should have as much personality as the team members working in them and encourage creativity and collaboration, as well as be indicative of the overall company culture. 

Take a peek inside the offices of six beautiful Chicago companies and learn about what their teams love most about them.

 

Lumere staff working in their quiet room

Desk in Lumere's quiet area

Lumere's team working in conference room

When the work you do everyday could impact peoples’ health, it’s important to remember to relax from the pressure now and then. Infrastructure and Compliance Lead Joe Kimball works at Lumere, which helps healthcare facilities make smart choices about their device usages and their prescribed drugs. According to Kimball, there are plenty of places to wind down in the office. 

 

What’s the coolest feature of your office, and how does it reflect your company culture?

The most unique feature of our office is our quiet zone, which lets people take a break from all the teamwork and synergy we’re constantly producing. It has couches, standing desks and no talking. It’s a nice little place to relax, kick back and pretend to work.

 

What’s your team’s favorite part of the office and why?

Our favorite part is the many Zoom-connected conference rooms. It’s easy to pop into one of these and start a meeting with our remote employees, or connect to the TV and stream the World Cup.

 

Trunk Club team members working in a conference room

Trunk Club team members working at digital white board

Trunk Club team members chatting in the office kitchen

Shopping, rooftop drinks, and an in-house coffee bar — is this a boutique mall or a Chicago tech office? Data Engineering Manager Steven Ladas mentioned these noteworthy features, as well as a layout that allows for easy collaboration, at Trunk Club’s River North office.

 

What’s the coolest feature of your office, and how does it reflect your company culture?

We are in an open, collaborative environment. We have areas to whiteboard and solve technical problems. Since our workplace is so open and collaborative, the tech teams choose to come in rather than take advantage of the work-from-home flexibility we offer.

 

What’s your team’s favorite part of the office and why?

This is a unique workplace with many perks. You can get a coffee at our coffee bar and go shopping upstairs in our clubhouse during your lunch hour. After work, you can grab a drink from our bar and head up to the rooftop for happy hour. Most engineers stay at our happy hour events for a few hours because we have a great team.

 

DialogTech's office space

Work room at DialogTech's office

DialogTech team members working in their office

For many at DialogTech, the kitchen and lounge areas are far more than places just for eating. Technical Recruiter Ed Sesay said they’re places to connect and catch up with colleagues, blow off some steam playing video games, indulge in tasty treats or simply relax soaking in a great view.

 

What’s the coolest feature of your office, and how does it reflect your company culture?

One of the unique features about our office is the abundance of private phone booth rooms — complete with bean bag chairs. While we have many larger meeting rooms around the office, these mini-meeting rooms are great for one or two people to chat, hold a call or get some quiet work done away from their desks. These rooms reflect how versatile our office is and how versatile many of our roles are. Our team members are dynamic and collaborative, and these rooms highlight that too. 

 

What’s your team’s favorite part of the office and why?

I think most people’s favorite parts of the office are our kitchen and common area. Our kitchen has a Bevi drink machine, handy for helping us kick our LaCroix dependency; a Coke Freestyle machine; kegerators; and so many snacks. The kitchen is connected to a gorgeous, large common area with plenty of seating for hanging out during lunch, taking a break during the day or informal meetings. There’s a video game setup that’s popular during lunchtime, and even a space with guitars for the musically inclined. Plus, the common area has large windows overlooking the skyline and the Chicago River. The common area feels like the heart of the office. It’s where you run into everyone, learn about their weekends and grab the snack you’ve been craving. 

 

ShopRunner's office

ShopRunner's rooftop area

ShopRunner team member serving drinks

Company values and the patio are two things Adhikari Ateet, corporate counsel and senior director of strategic initiatives, takes seriously at ShopRunner. The e-commerce platform has its values displayed front and center, to remind him of why he joined the company in the first place. And the private patio lets him and his team enjoy Chicago’s warmer months in every way they can. 

 

What’s the coolest feature of your office, and how does it reflect your company culture?

When you enter the office, you see a neon sign across the main space that highlights our company values — “Boldness, Inclusion, Grit, Candor, Accountability, Spirit, and Hustle” (B.I.G.C.A.S.H.). Every company has a list of values in some HR handbook, but here those values — the reason I decided to join ShopRunner — are front and center for every employee, candidate and visitor. 

 

What’s your team’s favorite part of the office and why? 

We have an amazing private deck. Chicago has about four nice months a year and when those days come, our team loves to sit outside to enjoy a little fresh air and sunshine. With team lunches, executive meetings, evening happy hours, events, and games of cornhole, the deck is a really fun way to get people together and enjoy our city. I wrote this from a patio chair.

 

Livly's office space

Livly team in conference room

Livly's rooftop space

Livly works to make experiences great for building managers and apartment tenants — so it’s no surprise that they do the same for their team. Head of Talent Caitlin Finn said the remodeled space the company took up was designed and decorated to be vibrant and interesting. 

 

What’s the coolest feature of your office, and how does it reflect your company culture?

Our founder is known for taking non-traditional spaces and turning them into apartment buildings – and true to form, we did just that with our office space. What was once a gym is now home to 55 team members. The one-story building has exposed brick walls, an outdoor patio and a vaulted ceiling. We’ve added some Livly flair to the space with neon signs, hanging wicker chairs and pink walls. 

 

What’s your team’s favorite part of the office and why? 

Our team’s favorite spot is without doubt the outdoor patio. Picnic tables, umbrellas, and greenery create the perfect oasis for daily stand-ups, meetings, and independent work. You’ll also find our team on the patio eating lunch and celebrating company milestones. 

 

Pricefx's office space

Pricefx's office space

Pricefx team members working in a conference room

Everyone loves a good Easter egg in a cool piece of art. Pricefx’s office has its very own custom art ripe with messages tucked away for a trained eye to spot. Chief Marketing Officer Patrick Moorhead said that the price and quote software company also has a conference room built purposefully for huge, highly tech-enabled, international meetings.

 

What’s the coolest feature of your office, and how does it reflect your company culture?

The coolest features in our office are our murals. We have four custom murals in different sections of our office, and they embody and represent our core values and company culture. Our two “brick wall” murals show off all of our customers and highlight our values in relation to each other. Our kitchen mural has hidden messages written in the clouds, and our conference room mural is a collage of skylines from all of the cities we have offices in around the world.

 

What’s your team’s favorite part of the office and why? 

Our team’s favorite part of the office is our new U.S. boardroom. With seating for over 20 people around a single conference table, it’s an impressive indicator of our massive growth. We’ve added a new state-of-the-art Microsoft Surface conference screen that is touch-enabled and live wired into our global MS Team system for amazing global conference call capabilities and trans-oceanic whiteboard sessions. And, with our wraparound 270-degree view from the 42nd floor, we see the Chicago River from the Merch Mart all the way down south Wacker.

 

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