Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

This 280,000-square-foot headquarters, which occupies seven stories in Chicago’s Hyatt Center, combines the typology of the modern hotel with that of the modern office. Voids carved out of each floor activate the space and pay homage to Hyatt’s innovative concept of the hotel atrium. The main reception area on the twelfth floor is two stories high, with bronze mesh drapes in front of full-height glazing. A grand staircase leads from the reception to the boardroom and other executive facilities, and a stainless steel and glass stair connects to the public hospitality spaces on each floor, which are housed in cantilevered wooden volumes.