The challenge

How are global capability centers redefining talent, technology, and transformation? To address this challenge, EY entrusted us with the creation of a competence centre within their new London headquarters where employees, clients and partners of the multinational consulting firm could think outside of the box, work collaboratively and come up with new solutions to complex business problems.

This innovation lab would showcase the company’s digital and business capabilities, as well as create prototypes, simulate scenarios for clients and provide internal training. The project was part of EY’s rethinking of its facilities​​, aligning with its ambition to set the firm’s global innovation strategy and shape the future of its capabilities centers worldwide.

The outcome

A visionary model anticipating the future of collaborative and hybrid workspaces, digital ecosystems and idea accelerators. Our pioneering and original concept solution was threefold: we designed user experiences and methodologies, created a new immersive environment in the physical space and integrated state-of-the-art digital tools. Working closely with EY, its stakeholders and the business intelligence firm Ludic Group we co-designed a transformation hub fostering talent, technology integration and business innovation.

The result is a capability centre, known as the Wavespace Experience Centre, where cutting-edge, collaborative technology is brought together with methodologies for accelerated decision-making. This flagship ecosystem was then scaled across EY’s global innovation network, extending to over 20 centers in key tech and innovation hubs worldwide, complemented by 15 satellite centers dedicated to specialized competencies and emerging technologies.

Bringing a Big Four firm into its next phase

EY, one of the Big Four consulting firms, marked a turning point to become a more user-centric, lean and agile organisation for the years ahead. To make this outward change possible, the firm needed to go through an internal transformation, and create a more collaborative and innovative work culture.

EY used the relocation of its London headquarters to Canary Wharf as an opportunity to create a facility designed around the way people work. The Wavespace Experience Centre is the capstone: a research and development hub where EY stakeholders collaborate to come up with innovative solutions through the exploration of new ideas and their agile and efficient development.

Co-design process offers insights into the business

Given that the centre is intended for use by a diverse set of stakeholders including employees, potential clients, existing clients and partners, one of the first steps in this project was to hold interviews and workshops to determine their needs. Tapping into their business knowledge and experience during codesign workshops helped us clearly understand the potential space usages.

A unique environment that serves diverse needs

The Experience Centre serves several different purposes:

• Showcasing EY’s innovative digital capabilities
• Enabling collaborative work across EY centres around the world on real-time business simulations, business modelling, risk mapping and data mining
• Internal training to develop a new, lean, agile and collective intelligence culture. 
• Empower its users to reach better answers, faster.

Putting the space at the service of users

The next step in confronting the challenge of knowledge management was to prototype different user experiences. We imagined different scenarios, and the best methods and tools to promote collaboration and innovative problem solving. We then created an environment that would enable the support of different experiences, ensuring that all stages of the project would be human-centrered.

Spatial design with a strategic concept

The concept of an Experience Centre was developed as a space for discovery and collaboration. It is intended to make those who enter the environment feel differently, and therefore think differently. By provoking this change in mindset, the aim is to break down mental and emotional barriers and allow for exploration and teamwork.

To achieve this goal, we imagined the space as a planned sequence of experiences. The flow of those experiences would take place by entering into the following mental stages:

• Awakening curiosity
• Generating a feeling of comfort and empowerment to take risks
• Promoting learning and collaborative idea generation
• Prototyping and simulation
• Making complex decisions as a collective

Digital tools that modernise proven methodologies

EY was looking to implement technology that would foster collaboration—not only within the space itself, but also globally. As part of our exploration into digital tools, we brought stakeholders from EY on a trip to discover the most advanced multimedia technologies in different locations around the world.

Through this learning process, we created a digital architecture; interfaces that reproduce traditional analog methods; and a palette of digital tools that allow users to visualise and analyse data, gather insights, prototype ideas and efficiently collaborate from different offices. These tools bring richness and agility to on big data management, risk assessment, business modelling and simulations.

How will entering this space reshape a visitor’s thinking?

To instill a shift in the user’s mindset from the very first step, the centre is accessed through two immersive tunnels — an interplay of materials, lighting, and a contemporary cabinet of curiosities deliberately designed to explore analog cues, provoke curiosity and encourage out-of-the-box thinking. 

What follows is a space purposefully crafted to ignite innovation — where the brightest minds are inspired to spark bold, breakthrough ideas. At its core lies a learning theatre: an open, modular environment that seamlessly adapts through smart partitions, mobile elements, and an invisible technological layer, enabling limitless configurations for collaboration, co-creation, and discovery.

Connectivity that fosters teamwork

Forming a fundamental aspect of the Experience Centre are the six mobile interactive docks that enable analogue and digital co-creation. With the appearance of standing open books, they are designed for more intimate breakout groups to gather around them and work together.

The integration of remote connectivity features allows for collaboration from anywhere in the world. Using gesture recognition, participants in workshops can intuitively and wirelessly transmit information from the docks and from individual handheld devices to the large panoramic screen.

This technology fosters a seamless, collaborative decision-making process, and allows small groups to brainstorm, crowdsource ideas and share their findings with a larger audience.

This pop-up mobile capability allows teams to set up and run EY wavespace experiences in a temporary space, or within their client’s organizations.

A technologically resilient environment

Because the docks and other technological elements in the space are totally modular and mobile, they offer a high degree of flexibility, giving their teams the chance to reframe their thinking through in-person, virtual or hybrid experiences. Unlike spaces with fixed installations, the Wavespace Experience Centre employs technology that is easily updatable, upgradable and replaceable, keeping it at the forefront of innovation.

Results that demonstrate the success of the project

Today, the Wavespace Experience Centre at EY is a high-value-added, state-of-the-art and bespoke space that successfully enables companies to accelerate transformation, drive innovation and create measurable outcomes. Its impact was evident early on, with the return on investment achieved in less than a year and the space operating at full capacity every working day. The consistent demand—reflected in a growing internal waiting list—underscores its success, as does the replication of the model in over 20 centres worldwide. Since its inception, the centre has also played a crucial role in converting leads into clients and unlocking new business opportunities for EY.

* Photography: Rubén P. Bescos for STUDIO BANANA.