The lobby of the Centergy One building on Midtown Atlanta’s 5th Street hums with activity. A Georgia Tech student discusses their research with a professor on the black lounge chairs just outside Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute doors. Employees from Accenture, The Home Depot, Southwire, Delta Air Lines, and TUFF stream in and out on their lunch breaks.
Accenture’s Atlanta Innovation Hub made its home in Tech Square in 2004, gradually expanding their presence to the ninth, tenth, and eleventh floors. When guests exit the elevator onto the main lobby’s eleventh floor, their eyes are drawn upward to a pair of train tracks that lead from the elevator doors through the glass doorway and on, curving out of sight past the welcome desk. It is part-art installation, part-regional allegory. Jimmy Etheredge, CEO of North America, Accenture and Georgia Tech alumnus, wanted the tracks to speak to Atlanta’s longstanding history as a hub – first of travel and trade, and now, of technology and innovation.
Today, Accenture’s Atlanta hub exudes cool and creative. At one point, they jackhammered through cement floor to add an open staircase connecting the tenth to the eleventh floor. Large windows open onto incredible views of Tech Square and Midtown, and through the east wing, the rounded hulk of Mercedes Benz stadium can be seen.
It’s a place where big ideas are shaped, fostered, and set to flight. There is certainly plenty of space for innovation and collaboration. With comfortable, modular seating, giant Microsoft Surface Hub 2S, and soundproof booths, employees have space and resources to innovatively pair technology with human ingenuity.
