“The new global headquarters for Akamai aimed at transforming the company at several levels, including bringing together six different locations under one roof to reduce square footage, encourage collaboration and better connect HQ employees to Akamai’s global workforce. The [workplace design] reimagined the open office concept to better separate collaborative spaces from the heads-down areas staff need for focus. The space also helps the company connect to its clients and to the surrounding neighborhood by creating a visitor experience and making a striking mark as a brand on the physical landscape,” said the CoreNet Awards jury.

More about the project

Akamai Technologies, a leading company in the Content Delivery Network field, reinvented themselves with their new global headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moving from six, separate offices to a single vertical campus provided them an opportunity to connect their employees like never before. The 19-story, 480,000 square-foot design strategically organizes all collaborative spaces around a continuous path that weaves through the building. The path—a mile-long experience affectionately referred to as the “AkaMile”—begins in the lobby, greeting customers and employees with its bold displays and warm, welcoming tones. It links collaborative work space with destinations like libraries, game rooms, and a cafeteria, and separates the quiet, focused work from the noise. Ultimately, the new headquarters encourages collaboration, fosters ideation, and drives innovation.

The New England Chapter of CoreNet Global has named the 2020-2021 winners of its annual Awards of Excellence, representing the best of the Boston region in corporate real estate leadership. The project winners include projects over the last two years to account for the postponed awards program in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Congratulations to the Akamai project team, and to the rest of this year’s winners!