More than just Post-it notes and Scotch tape, 3M produces a vast array of items—electronic stethoscopes, solar mirror films, abrasives—and likes to think of itself as an innovative company. But until recently, its headquarters in St. Paul was stuck in the 1970s, its offices a throwback to an era when you programmed a computer with punch cards and used a slide carousel for presentations. This time warp separating appearance and reality sent the wrong message to both the company's staff and visitors to its offices.

In 2010, George Buckley, then 3M's president and CEO, brought in architects Hitoshi Abe and Peter Ebner to inject a new dynamism into the company's dowdy workplace. He had heard Ebner speak at a 3M event, and Ebner then asked Abe to work with him on the project. 3M's campus, with 50 midrise buildings, was too big for a complete overhaul, so the strategy was to jump-start change at critical locations within a five-building core. Abe and Ebner, who have separate practices but are colleagues at UCLA, needed to shake things up without undermining the company's successful work culture. “In our business, we often look to disruptive ventures to advance our goals,” says Stefan Gabriel, president of 3M New Ventures, who was deeply involved in the design project.