KAYAK

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

Gensler designed KAYAK’s Berlin office as a globally inspired workplace that celebrates travel, supports open team culture, and prioritizes material reuse.

Location

Berlin, Germany

Client

Booking Holdings

Expertise

Technology Brand Design [FPO] Interior Design

Opportunity

Delivering a shared workplace for multiple Booking Holdings brands on an accelerated schedule, without compromising collaboration, identity, or employee experience.

KAYAK and its parent company, Booking Holdings, partnered with Gensler to create a new Berlin workplace at Warschauer Straße within an exceptionally compressed delivery schedule — just four weeks for design and six weeks for construction. The new office needed to unite multiple teams in a single environment while strengthening collaboration, supporting future growth, and expressing KAYAK's distinctive culture without relying on extensive structural intervention.

Why This Matters

01
Accelerated Delivery
The project required a complete design and on-site implementation process within a highly compressed 10-week timeline.
02
Global Identity
The workplace needed to express KAYAK’s international spirit through destination-led design, color, graphics, and wayfinding.
03
Open Team Culture
The new office creates flexible shared spaces that support lunch breaks, events, whole-office meetings, and collaboration.

FPO Quote

Solution

A globally inspired workplace shaped by travel, adaptive reuse, and local creativity — transforming KAYAK's brand into an engaging everyday workplace experience.

Gensler translated KAYAK's passion for travel into a series of destination-inspired neighborhoods, each defined by distinct color palettes, graphics, and airport codes that support intuitive wayfinding. Existing elements were thoughtfully reused wherever possible, reducing waste while creating a fresh identity. At the heart of the office, a flexible social hub encourages connection, events, and informal collaboration. Two AI-assisted murals, created with a Berlin-based artist, celebrate the city's creative spirit and reinforce KAYAK's global outlook.

From brief to build: How employee-curated destinations transformed KAYAK's passion for exploration into a collaborative design process that shaped the workplace's identity, graphics, and spatial experience.

To ground the workplace concept in authentic travel experiences, Gensler invited more than 700 employees to nominate hidden destinations from around the world. Together with KAYAK, the design team selected seven locations that became the foundation for neighborhood identities, meeting rooms, and the project's color palette. These references informed environmental graphics, materials, and wayfinding, while AI-assisted murals, created with Berlin-based artist WIZeT, connected KAYAK's global perspective with the city's local creative culture.

Building The Narrative

Employee-selected destinations established the workplace story, informing the color palette and identity of each neighborhood.

Impact

The completed workplace brings KAYAK's global culture to life, fostering collaboration, belonging, and an engaging employee experience through thoughtful, destination-inspired design.

The new office unites diverse teams within a shared identity, encouraging everyday collaboration while creating a memorable workplace that reflects KAYAK's adventurous brand.

What Changed Because of This

01
Shaping a Global Identity
Destination-inspired zones, airport-code wayfinding, and regional color palettes turn KAYAK’s international spirit into a clear and memorable workplace experience.
02
Supporting Team Connection
A large, open team area now supports lunch breaks, events, whole-office meetings, and flexible furniture setups for daily collaboration.
03
Responsible Material Reuse
Existing desks, phone booths, carpet, ceiling tiles, seating, partitions, doors, and plants were retained to reduce waste and support well-being.

KAYAK's Berlin workplace brings the spirit of global travel to life through adaptive reuse, destination-inspired storytelling and flexible, people-centred design.

Recognition

01

Office Snapshots

Featured how Gensler’s design of KAYAK’s Berlin office brings global travel spirit to life.

02

Architekturblatt

Highlighted how Gensler’s reimagination of KAYAK’s Berlin workplace is a journey around the world.

Team

Project Leadership

Lukasz Platkowski

As Managing Director of Gensler Germany, Lukasz provides leadership and strategic direction for the growth of the firm's business across Germany and Central Europe. He has led multidisciplinary projects for a range of clients, with a focus on resilience, enhancing human experiences, and creating long-term value.

[FPO] Sonja Jungnitsch

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FAQ

01

Where is KAYAK’s Berlin office located?

KAYAK’s Berlin office is located at Warschauer Straße in Berlin, Germany.

02

What was the design concept for KAYAK’s Berlin office?

The workplace is inspired by global travel, with different areas reflecting worldwide destinations through color, graphics, wayfinding, and meeting room themes.

03

How does the design support collaboration?

A large, open team area supports lunch breaks, events, whole-office meetings, and flexible furniture setups for different ways of working together.

04

How does the project address sustainability?

The design reused existing furniture and elements from the previous tenant’s fit-out, including desks, phone booths, carpet, ceiling tiles, seating, glazed partitions, and doors.

05

What amenities are included in KAYAK’s Berlin office?

The office includes meeting rooms, phone booths, a co-working area, amenity spaces, a wellness room for massage sessions, and flexible team areas.

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Related Expertise

Technology Brand Design Interior Design

Gensler designed KAYAK’s Berlin office as a globally inspired workplace that celebrates travel, supports open team culture, and prioritizes material reuse.

Delivering a shared workplace for multiple Booking Holdings brands on an accelerated schedule, without compromising collaboration, identity, or employee experience.

Why This Matters

A globally inspired workplace shaped by travel, adaptive reuse, and local creativity — transforming KAYAK's brand into an engaging everyday workplace experience.

From brief to build: How employee-curated destinations transformed KAYAK's passion for exploration into a collaborative design process that shaped the workplace's identity, graphics, and spatial experience.

The completed workplace brings KAYAK's global culture to life, fostering collaboration, belonging, and an engaging employee experience through thoughtful, destination-inspired design.

What Changed Because of This