Share this article:

The Death of HQ: Rethinking Place as Strategy, Not Symbol

June 17, 2025 · Work/Shift Insights Issue #10

By Frederic Libet-Descorne Hwang

If the HQ is dead, what comes next? It’s time to stop clinging to square metres and start designing for cultural gravity.

Remember when “head office” meant something? Not just a mailing address or a floor plan, but a statement. Power. Presence. Prestige.

It told clients you were serious. Told employees they had “arrived.” Told the market you had scale.

But now? Many of those HQs feel like abandoned movie sets. Big-budget builds with no storyline. Hybrid is the new normal, yet the old logic of centralisation still looms large in CRE plans and C-suite narratives.

We’re overdue for a mindset shift: The HQ isn’t obsolete, but its old job description is. Not because buildings don’t matter, but because their role has fundamentally changed. The question now isn’t where people work. It’s why they’d want to gather at all.

I’ll admit it. There was a time when I treated HQs like they were the altar of workplace culture. The logic was simple: better furniture, better outcomes. These days, I’ve come to realise that people don’t need a shrine. They need a reason. And sometimes, that reason isn’t tied to square metres at all.

The Myth of HQ as ‘Home Base’

For decades, headquarters were designed to be the centre of gravity, pulling people in and pushing culture out.

But let’s be honest. A lot of that gravity was artificial. You showed up because you had to. Because your boss expected it. Because the swipe card was a proxy for performance.

Those days are gone.

Today, people want meaning, not mandates. They don’t want to commute just to sit on Zoom calls with noise-cancelled headphones. They want frictionless collaboration. They want energy. They want experiences that make the trip feel worth it.

HQs didn’t die. The reasons to show up just stopped being good enough.

If the HQ is Dead, What Comes Next?

What replaces it isn’t a smaller lease or a flashier space with better coffee. It’s a different mindset entirely:

Gravity, not geography. Purpose, not presence. Moments, not mandates.

The new HQ might be a physical location, a digital platform, or a rhythm of team gatherings. What matters is that it earns attention through relevance and resonance.

One organisation getting this right is Atlassian. Their shift to a team-based hybrid model means their Sydney HQ is no longer a 9-to-5 factory, but a collaboration hub built for momentum. It’s not about showing up daily. It’s about creating in-person collisions that can’t happen online.

Contrast that with companies that simply reduced floor space and rebranded it as flexible. Many of those now sit underused, offering little more than Wi-Fi and white walls.

Place as Strategy, Not Symbol

This is a shift from real estate to relevance.

Leaders need to ask themselves: What kind of organisation are we becoming, and what kind of places support that?

If your HQ still signals control while your culture claims empowerment, you’re sending mixed messages. And employees notice. Especially the ones you’re trying hardest to keep.

Designers and CRE teams can help close that gap by translating values into environments.

This is not a space problem. It is a leadership opportunity.

Culture Without a Postcode

Culture doesn’t live in the carpet tiles or the coffee machine. It lives in how people treat each other, what they prioritise, and how often they connect with purpose.

That said, space still matters.

Because we’ve all felt the difference. Walking into a half-empty HQ where the lights are on but the energy is gone. The silence is heavy, the purpose unclear. You’re not sure if you’re early, late, or simply forgotten. Compare that to entering a space that buzzes with intent. People greet you, ideas spill across whiteboards, and there’s a pulse in the air. One feels like obligation. The other feels like possibility.

When done right, space becomes a tuning fork. A signal. A beacon. It helps people feel the culture, not just hear about it on slide decks.

The new HQ might look like:

• A network of smaller hubs aligned to team needs
• A cadence of offsites designed for connection and clarity
• A digital infrastructure that fosters cohesion without requiring colocation

We don’t need to be somewhere to feel like we belong. But we do need to be deliberate about how we create that belonging.

From Insight to Action: Rethinking HQ as a Cultural Instrument

1. Audit the Intent–Experience Gap — Use a diagnostic lens:
   • What was this space designed to signal?
   • What does it currently signal through layout, rituals, and usage?
   • Where is the disconnect between aspiration and reality?
2. Uncover the Why Behind Gathering — Use pulse surveys or guided conversations to understand:
   • When and why teams want to come together
   • What moments create energy such as onboarding, problem-solving, celebration, or deep work
   • Where the current space enables or obstructs those experiences
3. Design for Energy, Not Occupancy — Move beyond seat counts and square metre maths:
   • What experiences create momentum, clarity, and trust?
   • What environmental cues spark belonging or initiative?
4. Prototype, Don’t Just Plan — Treat your HQ as a working hypothesis:
   • Trial space types, rituals, and gathering rhythms
   • Track cultural and team outcomes
   • Adapt based on evidence, not assumptions

Let’s stop dragging around the corpse of the old HQ. It’s time to build something that lives, breathes, and evolves with your people.

It’s not about less space. It’s about more gravity.