Project Overview
Location:
Orlando, FL
Square meters:
32,000 soft
Status:
Completed
As the permanent home of the executive team and a gathering place for leadership from across the country, the 32,000-square-foot headquarters needed to do more than accommodate work. It needed to embody the company’s identity, strengthen culture, and create an experience worthy of the people and brands it represents.
A Return to Connection
The shift to remote work reinforced something essential: culture thrives through presence.
The new headquarters was designed to make that presence meaningful, creating a workplace employees would want to return to and an environment that elevates the everyday experience. Collaboration, community, and hospitality became central to the design, balancing the focus of an executive workplace with the warmth and familiarity of a shared home.
An expansive floor plate and abundant natural light provided the canvas. A carefully layered palette of materials, textures, and architectural details brings harmony to the open environment while giving individual spaces their own identity.
Beyond the Traditional Office
Private and open offices, an executive boardroom, conference rooms, collaboration areas, and a flexible 60-person training room establish the foundation of the workplace.
Beyond these essential functions, employee cafés, lounges, coffee stations, a photography studio, and an executive speakeasy introduce moments of hospitality and discovery throughout the headquarters. Together, the program creates an environment where focused work, collaboration, and connection unfold naturally throughout the day.
Rooted in the Ames Story
A sculptural ash wood feature defines the arrival experience, rising from the walls and extending overhead to visually connect reception, the employee café, and executive boardroom.
The material is more than an architectural gesture. Ash wood pays tribute to one of Ames’ original products—the iconic Ames shovel—and becomes a subtle thread woven throughout the workplace. It appears in flooring, millwork, lighting, and even shovel handles reimagined as door pulls.
Warm, natural finishes complement the wood, while Ames products—including ClosetMaid systems and millwork finishes—are integrated throughout the environment, allowing the workplace itself to become an expression of the company’s legacy.
Designed Around a Shared Identity
Communal and visitor-facing spaces occupy the center of the floor plate, creating a collective heart for the headquarters. Administrative and executive functions extend into four distinct quadrants, reflecting the four committees based within the Lake Nona office.
The result is a workplace that balances individuality with unity, bringing people, brands, and leadership together through a shared architectural language. More than a corporate headquarters, Ames Lake Nona creates a physical expression of culture, where heritage, hospitality, and connection shape the experience of work.
