Uber 5

Located in Uber’s main headquarters in San Francisco, this floor was inspired by science fiction. With a massive layout, the floor was broken up into several neighborhoods, each named for a seminal novel in the genre. I worked with the copywriter at Studio O+A and the team at Uber to develop a list of books and then to narrow that list down to a final collection. The patterns in the seating carrels are representative of the themes from some of the novels. For example, from Contact, by Carl Sagan, the radio pattern picked up by the protagonist is represented by an audio pattern made up of hash marks in groupings of prime numbers.

I designed an 80’ hero wall installation comprised of a series of neon tubes, set into wall panels painted to resemble raw steel. Each tube is connected to a motion sensor which detects passersby and sets off a pattern of lights which will bounce back and forth across the wall until it slowly breaks down or another person walks by. I worked with a third-party neon lighting expert and an engineer to create the program that controls the installation.