Michael Kors
Workplace Design
Company: Gensler
Client: Michael Kors
My role: Design Strategist
• Project visioning
• Design and experience principles
• Program strategy development
• Space planning
The TLDR
I led the development of experience principles and design strategies for Michael Kors’ new global headquarters in New York City, ensuring the workplace reflected the brand’s luxury status while enhancing productivity and creativity.
My team conducted leadership interviews, employee surveys, and industry benchmarking to distill key insights into a strategic vision that informed program strategies, space planning, and material selections.
I drove the translation of the strategy into actionable design solutions, guiding space standards and fit-and-finish palettes. The final headquarters design successfully reinforced Michael Kors’ commitment to fostering creativity, talent, and high performance within a world-class environment.
Due to their significant and rapid growth over the last decade, Michael Kors challenged our team at Gensler to transform their New York-based global headquarters to support increased productivity and better reflect their world-class brand.
The Challenge
I led a design strategy team in collecting and distilling key inputs from leadership interviews, employee surveys, on-site observations, industry benchmarking, and brand analysis. Equipped with these insights, we crafted a design strategy including design and experience principles.
The Strategy
Design and Experience Principles
The strategic vision set the foundation for the program strategy development, space planning, and material and finish selections as the project progressed. I was responsible for the translation of the strategy into these programmatic and planning solutions.
From Vision to Planning
Throughout the project, I consulted with the internal Gensler studio executing the interior design and architecture for Michael Kors. The strategy continued to serve as the underpinning for concepts, space standards, design approaches, and final fit and finish palettes.
The new headquarters showcase and reinforce Michael’s ultimate goal: to support the creative process, cultivate talent and performance, and echo the success and luxury status of the Michael Kors brand.
