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North American Headquarters Transformation

The current Meraki leadership team developed an enterprise furniture strategy focused on design collaboration, procurement governance, workplace standardization, and implementation.

Overview

In early 2016, Sony North America relocated from the iconic 550 Madison Avenue (formerly the AT&T Building) to 25 Madison Avenue, occupying approximately 550,000 square feet across 11 floors overlooking Madison Square Park.

Supporting more than ten global business divisions, the project required balancing enterprise-wide workplace standards with the operational and branding needs of each business unit. Working alongside STUDIOS Architecture, the current Meraki leadership team developed an enterprise furniture strategy focused on design collaboration, procurement governance, workplace standardization, and implementation.

Through strategic procurement planning, competitive bidding, and enterprise standardization, the team reduced the overall FF&E investment delivering 20% in capital savings while preserving the project's design vision.

 

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Project Profile

  • Location: New York, New York
  • Project Size: 550,000 SF
  • Building: 11 Floors
  • Project Type: Corporate Headquarters Relocation
  • Business Units: 10+ Global Divisions
  • Managed FF&E Procurement: $16 Million

Executive Challenge

The project required the development of a scalable workplace platform capable of supporting multiple business divisions while maintaining enterprise consistency, procurement efficiency, and design integrity.

  • Consolidating approximately 550,000 SF into one enterprise workplace platform
  • Supporting more than 10 business divisions with varying operational requirements
  • Balancing standardized workplace systems with brand-level flexibility
  • Aligning design intent with procurement strategy and capital budgets
  • Critical floor-to-floor dimensional variances required extensive field verification and planning controls, ensuring furniture solutions were developed from verified site conditions rather than design documents alone while protecting schedule, procurement accuracy, and installation quality
  • Coordinating phased implementation across multiple manufacturers, vendors, and trades
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Approach

  • Design development partnership with STUDIOS Architecture
  • Enterprise kit-of-parts programming and workplace standardization
  • RFP development and competitive bid management
  • Contract negotiations and procurement governance
  • Cost management, budgeting, and benchmarking
  • Furniture strategy, design due diligence, and risk advisory
  • Furniture standards and performance specification development
  • Mock-up development and product evaluation
  • Process protocol, scheduling, and vendor management
  • Procurement, purchasing, and supply chain management
  • Installation oversight and construction integration
  • On-site field support during phased move-in
  • Quality assurance, project closeout, and Day-2 continuity

KPIs & Outcomes

  • 20% capital savings achieved by reducing the FF&E investment
  • 550,000 SF standardized under one enterprise workplace platform
  • 10+ global business units successfully integrated through a flexible kit-of-parts strategy
  • Long-term workplace performance validating the durability and adaptability of the implementation strategy

Impact

Rather than furnishing a corporate headquarters, the current Meraki leadership team developed an enterprise workplace strategy that aligned design, procurement, budgeting, and implementation into a scalable operating framework. The resulting kit-of-parts methodology, procurement governance, and standardized workplace platform reduced capital investment by approximately 20%, improved implementation efficiency, and established a repeatable workplace model supporting Sony's diverse business units while preserving design integrity and long-term operational performance.

 

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