Is There Something Different in the Unicorn Office?

Capturing the Identity of Trending Startup Office Services

In the Samsung Life Seocho Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 25th and 27th floors in the heart of Gangnam, there are spaces that are offices yet feel like homes. They have living rooms and kitchens, studies and dressing rooms, and even verandas. One might wonder who lives there, but these are definitely offices. Each space is designed as a so-called 'layered home,' where new functions such as work and leisure are stacked floor by floor on top of the role of residential space. This is the office of Bucketplace, the company operating the lifestyle application (app) 'Today’s House.'

Startup offices are evolving. Especially among platform companies that have grown into unicorns (unlisted companies valued at over 1 trillion won), there is an increasing trend to embed the identity of their services into office design. This is intended to help visitors understand the service even on their first visit.

?????????? Employees are having a meeting in the office. (Photo by Oneul-ui Jip)

As a startup that has innovated and grown the interior market, Bucketplace’s office is cited as a representative example. Bucketplace’s office directly reflects the 'Today’s House' service, which captures people’s diverse lifestyles. Upon entering, the lounge and open kitchen evoke the living room and kitchen of a home. It is designed with an open-plan layout connecting the spaces like a typical house, featuring sofas and an island bar that you would see in an actual home. Each meeting room is themed after spaces you might find in a real house, such as a movie room, game room, veranda, study, and dressing room.

Employees are talking in the Today’s House office.
Photo by Today’s House

Gayeong, the Culture Lead of Today’s House, said, "We expected that members would be able to work more joyfully and immerse themselves in a company decorated as comfortably as their own homes," adding, "Employee satisfaction with various convenience facilities is also high, not just with the space itself."

Yanolja’s office, located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, also completed a renovation earlier this year. The office was newly designed with the concept of 'travel,' a keyword that immediately comes to mind when thinking of Yanolja. Each floor is decorated with a different travel theme so that not only employees but all visitors to Yanolja feel as if they have arrived at a travel destination. One floor is themed around city travel, another around sea and lake travel, and yet another around mountain travel. There is a space representing an airport where one can feel the excitement of setting off on a trip, and a structure shaped like waves is installed on the ceiling to evoke the sea that unfolds before you upon arrival at a travel destination. The stars seen from a mountain summit are also recreated so they can be enjoyed inside the office. In the company cafe, the seats where customers order and wait for drinks are designed like a luggage conveyor belt, and suitcases are placed there as well.

Yanolja Office (Photo by Yanolja Newsroom)

Socar, which offers mobility-related services, installed signposts and traffic lights throughout its office. The floor is painted with crosswalks, parking spaces, lanes, and speed limit signs. Additionally, the content platform company Ridibooks decorated one wall of its office lounge like an unmanned library, allowing employees to freely read and borrow comics, general books, and magazines.

These changes in startups differ greatly from the perception of traditional offices, which were hard to shake off their bleak atmosphere. An industry insider said, "Along with various work styles such as remote work, telecommuting, and workations, office designs that enhance work efficiency can be seen as part of the cultural changes in work led by startups."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.