Ripple Global Headquarters: Architectural Photography for a Landmark San Francisco Workplace
When a company takes over an entire historic building in San Francisco's Jackson Square neighborhood and turns it into a destination workplace, the finished space deserves documentation that matches the ambition of the project. Emily Hagopian Photography was engaged to capture the completed Ripple Global Headquarters at 600 Battery Street. At the time, it was one of the largest single tenant workplace transformations to land in San Francisco in recent years.
Project Overview
Ripple, the fintech and blockchain company behind XRP, signed a lease in 2022 to relocate its headquarters from a sixteen story tower at 315 Montgomery Street into a full building at 600 Battery Street near the Embarcadero. The concrete structure was originally built in 1927 and had already been renovated into creative office space decades earlier. Ripple took over the entire 130,000 square foot building. The building is owned by TMG Partners and Invesco Real Estate.
Construction and buildout, led by general contractor BCCI Construction, ran from October 2022 through December 2023, positioning the office as what Ripple described internally as a beta test for a workplace built around collaboration and culture rather than rows of desks.
Design and Brand Experience
Huntsman Architectural Group served as architect on the project, working alongside LMNL Studio, which led brand experience design across strategy, concept architecture, integrated technology, interior design, art curation, fabrication, and brand activation. The combined scope covered 26 distinct feature areas throughout the building. The design approach was built around Ripple's core value of transparency, introducing architectural interventions that opened sightlines and portals across spaces that would otherwise feel enclosed and compartmentalized.
Furniture and space planning were handled by The Collective, whose Account and Design teams met with Ripple every week to translate the vision into a working plan. Workstations, lounge areas, and meeting spaces throughout the office are organized around a Teknion Cityline spine, a modular system that let Ripple's workplace team replicate consistent furniture configurations across departments while still giving each neighborhood its own character.
Full Project Team
A build of this scope drew on a large team of architects, contractors, and specialty vendors, including:
Client: Ripple
Architect: Huntsman Architectural Group
Brand experience and interior design: LMNL Studio
General contractor: BCCI Construction
Custom fabrication and art installation: One Hat One Hand, delivering more than 20 custom features including lighted stairs and hanging art installations
Furniture and space planning: The Collective, using the Teknion Cityline system
Acoustical and audiovisual consulting: Shen Milsom and Wilke
Mural artist: Xavi Panneton
Building ownership: TMG Partners and Invesco Real Estate
Architectural photography: Emily Hagopian Photography
Inside the Space
The finished headquarters reads more like a hospitality property than a typical office. Shen Milsom and Wilke provided acoustical and audiovisual consulting for the auditorium, boardroom, and other gathering spaces throughout the building. Program elements include:
A wellness center, cafe, and full restaurant
An arcade and rooftop bar
Gallery spaces featuring commissioned art, each with its own distinct identity
An auditorium, boardroom, and all hands space for company wide gatherings
A lobby designed to set the tone for the building's borderless, transparent brand ethos
The result earned praise from the client as one of the best workplaces in San Francisco, and LMNL Studio has since carried the same brand experience approach into Ripple offices in New York, Geneva, and Singapore.
The Role of Architectural Photography
A project of this scale, spanning 26 feature areas and multiple building systems, needed photography that could document both the individual moments (custom art installations, material choices, lighting design) and the larger spatial story of how the building moves people from a historic concrete shell into a modern, hospitality driven workplace. Emily Hagopian Photography was retained to produce the image library used to represent the completed project, working across the building's neighborhoods, amenity spaces, and signature areas such as the rooftop bar and gallery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who designed Ripple's San Francisco headquarters?
Huntsman Architectural Group served as architect, with LMNL Studio leading brand experience and interior design for Ripple's global headquarters at 600 Battery Street. Furniture and space planning were handled by The Collective using a Teknion Cityline modular system, with BCCI Construction as general contractor.
Who was on the full project team for Ripple's San Francisco headquarters?
The team included Huntsman Architectural Group as architect, LMNL Studio for brand experience and interior design, BCCI Construction as general contractor, One Hat One Hand for custom fabrication, The Collective for furniture and space planning, Shen Milsom and Wilke for acoustical and audiovisual consulting, and artist Xavi Panneton for a custom mural. Emily Hagopian Photography photographed the completed project.
Where is Ripple's San Francisco headquarters located?
The headquarters occupies the full building at 600 Battery Street in San Francisco's Jackson Square neighborhood, near the Embarcadero. Ripple previously operated out of 315 Montgomery Street.
How large is Ripple's San Francisco headquarters?
Ripple leased the entire 130,000 square foot building. Reporting on the interior buildout describes the designed program space at roughly 115,000 to 125,000 square feet across 26 feature areas.
When was the Ripple headquarters project completed?
The buildout ran from October 2022 through December 2023.
Who photographed Ripple's San Francisco headquarters?
Emily Hagopian Photography, an architectural and commercial photography studio based in the San Francisco Bay Area, photographed the completed project.
About Emily Hagopian Photography
Emily Hagopian Photography provides architectural photography for architects, contractors, and AEC vendors and service providers across the Bay Area and beyond. From historic adaptive reuse projects like the Ripple headquarters to new construction, Emily documents finished spaces with the level of detail design and construction teams need for portfolios, awards submissions, and press.
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