Meta EMEA Headquarters
Dublin, Ireland

Meta’s Dublin campus, which serves as the social media company’s EMEA HQ, is unlike any other designed by STUDIOS to encourage collaboration, drive innovation, and bring vibrancy to the work day in a comfortable and supportive environment.

Located in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, the former Bank headquarters was completely transformed from a 1970s-era sterile, Modernist office block into a flexible, adaptable, open, and accessible contemporary work plaza. A central atrium anchors the campus and creates an activated heart that stitches the buildings together to drive a deeper sense of connectivity. Social spaces where people can come together–for events, meetings, dining, etc. are positioned around the atrium to establish a constant and consistent draw to within for employees and visitors alike.

Meta Dublin’s Ballsbridge address situates the campus alongside city residents, roughly 20 international embassies, and an established technology hub with neighbors such as Amazon, Google, and Stripe. As such, it was important that the new international headquarters send a bold message about its excitement for the future, vision for a vibrant culture, and commitment to collaboration. This mission fueled every aspect of the six-year redevelopment project–from sustainable construction practices and thoughtful architectural interventions to the activation of the campus itself.

Built out in the late 1970s, the existing site was disjointed and insular in its organization. STUDIOS and Meta developed a master plan that reshaped the pattern of circulation for more connectivity and permeability, providing a creative platform for community engagement. The program consolidated spaces for dining and collaboration at the atrium’s base, running areas for the concentrative work of the Meta staff across the building’s five upper floors. The design team mitigated the acoustical challenges with this composition through the careful selection and positioning of materials and plan elements, which simultaneously resolved the potential for solar glare. This approach allowed the upper floors to maintain both visual and physical openness to the whole – with no walls or glass separation – fostering true engagement between all its users, active or heads down.

By grounding the broader workplace program around the improved atrium, STUDIOS created a much-needed sense of vibrancy that the modern office can sometimes lack. The atrium’s ever-changing nature creates constant interest and intrigue; there’s always some new draw to discover, which keeps Meta staff and their friends (who are always welcome for a visit) coming back for more.

The materials and finishes selected further echo the sentiment of openness and collaboration throughout dedicated work areas. The office buildings themselves, as well as the internal link bridges that connect them, are fully curtained in a double-glazed facade and capped with generously planted rooftop terrace gardens. STUDIOS was thoughtful about its translation of Meta’s brand guidelines into the workplace interiors, as well. In the literal sense, light-touch interventions, raw materials, exposed ceilings, and pared down finishes maintain an honesty about the architecture and its past life – including the former basement vault, which has been modestly restored as a grown-up play area.

These intentional design choices reduced demolition waste during construction, limited the need for gratuitous materials, and created greenspace where there was once concrete, culminating in an enhanced overall sense of wellbeing across the greater campus. More than a feeling, this attention to wellness and care for its people earned LEED Gold and Platinum for the two main phases and the complex is powered exclusively through electricity, further ensuring that the total redevelopment would not be to the detriment of the community or its environment.

Working with the STUDIOS team Meta EMEA, Dublin, imagined a campus that functioned like their Menlo Park headquarters, promoting company culture, hosting events, and serving as a productive home for their growing workforce. Besides a vibrant daily usage, the Ballsbridge campus has hosted a series of events inviting the business community, friends, family, and the public. Reminiscent of the famous Hacker Square in Menlo Park, the main atrium is a similar epicenter for Meta culture.

more. www.studios.com