The Intuit Atlanta Office Pulses with the City’s Energy

It was early 2022. After nearly two years of working from home, employees were tentatively returning to the office, many carrying with them a newfound preference for the flexibility and convenience of remote work. While the Intuit Atlanta office, home of Mailchimp, was still in its conceptual stage, employers across industries were reimagining the office, considering what a workplace could give back to its workers—adaptable environments, a welcoming feel, and an enlivening design.

“What’s missing from working from home is the camaraderie and joy that only the workplace makes,” says Primo Orpilla, cofounder and principal of Studio O+A, one of the firms that collaborated on the design for the office. “Intuit and Mailchimp were asking, how do we take care of our people? And how do we keep them energized and rejuvenated?”

The design of the 360,000-square-foot office—situated along Atlanta’s Beltline on the popular Eastside Trail in the Old Fourth Ward district—began with an ambitious concept: to create a self-contained “city” within the building. 

“When you’re in a city, you can be in one neighborhood and walk to another with a different personality. All those areas are so wildly different, yet you know you’re in one city,” says Christian Widlic, global head of design at Mailchimp. “We asked ourselves, how can we create this sense of belonging while having it not all feel the same?”

The design teams envisioned each of the nine floors as a “neighborhood,” complete with unique color and brand stories, furniture styles, artwork, and meeting room designs. While levels vary in visual identity, all floors share similar architectural frameworks designed to support different types of work. Private offices and quiet zones like moody libraries support focused tasks. Communal lounges, coffee bars, and maker spaces foster informal collaboration and creativity. 

At the heart of each floor, “homerooms”—warm, inviting spaces inspired by residential living rooms—function as central gathering points, much like parks in an urban landscape. Positioned near the elevator entrances, they include a mix of comfortable seating options, greenery, and touches like board games and craft areas ideal for casual conversations between coworkers. 

“A homeroom is a communal space to come together,” says Kate Lincoln, interior designer at Atlanta-based TVS, which focused on the working typologies in the office. “These homerooms are a destination and a reason to come back to the office.”

To reflect the global diversity of Intuit’s customer base, each floor is themed around a distinct art genre. According to Trey Wadsworth, creative director at Intuit Mailchimp, art speaks to Mailchimp’s imaginative and vibrant brand and makes the completed office—which opened in February 2024—feel like an upscale home. “Art has always been historically important to Mailchimp,” he says. “We know the inherent value of art and the [sense of] well-being and inspiration it can provide to people.”

From massive wall murals to small clay sculptures, the original artworks around the office are carefully curated to reflect each floor’s theme. “Outsider Art” by unestablished artists, with raw, unfiltered expression, populates Level 4, while Minimalism, Surrealism, Contemporary Art, Pop Art, and Op Art define other levels. The level of detail in curating these was high: A canvas by Ukrainian artist Aleksei Bordusov was shipped in and unrolled on-site, while artist Ruohan Wang spent several days mixing colors before even beginning her mural. In total, the building features 40 wall murals and 267 individual works of art.

“Mailchimp is such a fun, quirky brand, and we were able to embrace color in strategic ways,” says Chelsea Hedrick, senior brand designer at Studio O+A during the Intuit Atlanta project. “Where many clients want to go more neutral, they were open to the playfulness and color in the space.”

Brand storytelling is woven subtly and playfully throughout the interiors. Meeting spaces imitate storefronts, with names inspired by Mailchimp’s customers. The main lobby artwork is the deconstructed logo, and the totem pole in the Tiki Room—a re-creation of the quirky hangout space in Mailchimp’s first offices—includes a carving of the brand’s iconic Freddie chimp. 

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• Workplace

• Art and Craft
• Atlanta
• Design Trends
• Erinn Loucks
• Intuit
• Studio O+A
• TVS Design