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AAA’s Northern California, Nevada and Utah regional headquarters in Walnut Creek, California, uses road-trip references to give a workplace renovation a distinct sense of place. Designed by HGA, the project brought that idea into boardrooms, conference rooms, break areas and corridors while also reorganizing meeting settings and custom workstations around varied work styles. The references are specific—from a boardroom table incorporating vintage hubcaps to commissioned regional photography made into window film—rather than a general travel motif. The design’s stated goals included a refreshed identity, more efficient space, employee attraction and retention, and a better balance between focused work and collaboration; the available project accounts do not establish those goals as measured outcomes.
How did AAA bring the road-trip theme into its headquarters?
HGA translated the American road trip into built details that employees would encounter across the office, rather than confining the concept to a lobby sign or a single decorative wall. The firm says the theme was intended to evoke camaraderie, excitement and exploration. Roadside stops, cars and the open road supplied a recognizable vocabulary for spaces with different functions, from formal meetings to informal breaks.
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In the boardroom, wood detailing resembles tire tracks, and the table incorporates vintage hubcaps. A conference room uses light fixtures inspired by headlights. Elsewhere, meeting nooks recall 1970s rest areas, while a corridor wall displays vintage license plates from every state. These objects and forms make the theme legible in several ways: through material and pattern, through lighting, and through recognizable road-trip artifacts.
The three break rooms take the form of A-frame highway rest stops. HGA connects the choice to the three “A”s in AAA’s name. The motif therefore works both as a familiar roadside reference and as a project-specific brand cue. Rather than repeat the same feature everywhere, the design uses different references to give individual rooms their own character.
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Regional identity appears in the project’s commissioned photography. Images of the Northern California, Nevada and Utah region were converted into window film. HGA describes the effect as looking through a car window; incoming natural light and people moving past the film animate the imagery. It is a way to connect an interior workplace to the territory the regional headquarters serves, even in a corridor or room without a conventional exterior view.
Work Design describes collaboration booths on the route to the break room as another roadside-inspired feature. The booths draw on West Coast rest areas of the 1970s and use life-size commissioned photography. The account says they help activate a windowless hallway. That detail shows how the theme was used not only to decorate prominent rooms, but also to give a transitional space a recognizable purpose and visual identity. See Work Design’s project interview and HGA’s project account for their descriptions of these elements.
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What workplace problem was the renovation meant to address?
The road-trip theme was one part of a workplace redesign, not the whole brief. HGA says it worked with AAA to understand what was functioning well and what could improve. Melissa Pesci, principal and vice president at HGA, said: “We spent a significant amount of time upfront with AAA to find out what was working really well and what things could be improved.” The project’s stated aims included making better use of space, refreshing the organization’s identity, supporting employee attraction and retention, and accommodating both focused work and collaboration.
The planning addressed meeting-room size and variety. According to HGA, many meetings involved four or fewer people, even though typical conference rooms had been designed for eight to ten. The design team reduced the size of some conventional conference rooms and used the resulting planning opportunity to create a wider range of meeting settings. HGA says the resulting program included open and enclosed meeting spaces in different sizes and heights.
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This is a spatial response to a stated pattern of use: if many groups are small, a workplace with only larger rooms may devote more area than necessary to those rooms while offering too few alternatives. The Walnut Creek plan sought to provide choices for different kinds of interaction. Smaller nooks and booths offered informal settings; enclosed rooms remained part of the mix. The sources describe the intention and design decisions, not a post-occupancy study proving that the new arrangement improved collaboration or space utilization.
The distinction between design intent and demonstrated effect matters. Project descriptions report goals such as employee retention and productivity, but they do not provide measured outcomes showing that the renovation changed retention, productivity or how often people used particular spaces. The defensible takeaway is that HGA designed for a refreshed identity and a broader range of work modes—not that the project’s results were independently quantified.
How did the workstations support different work styles?
The project included custom Knoll workstations intended to encourage collaboration. Work Design reports that the stations were height adjustable and could be configured for different employee work styles, with options for visual privacy and storage. This combination points to flexibility rather than a single prescribed setup: employees could adjust the work surface and select privacy or storage features suited to their needs.
That workstation approach complemented the range of meeting spaces. A flexible individual station and a nearby choice of open or enclosed meeting settings address different scales of work: focused tasks at a desk, quick exchanges, or group discussion. The project accounts describe these as design provisions; they do not establish which work mode employees preferred or quantify how much time was spent in each setting.
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Employees also had a role in selecting the workstation standard and palette. Work Design reports that all NCNU employees could vote on both. The selected bright colors were described as matching AAA truck yellow. Participation linked a visible design decision to staff input, while the color reference carried AAA’s identity into the workplace without relying solely on signage or logos. The report does not specify how many employees voted or provide vote totals.
How large was the Walnut Creek headquarters, and how many people did it serve?
Published accounts agree on a 50,000-square-foot figure for the redesigned facility, but the reported occupancy and area terminology differ. HGA says the redesign accommodated 380 employees after the Emeryville office relocation. Facility Executive also reports 50,000 square feet and 380 employees. Work Design, in a 2018 interview, gives a different set of figures: 50,000 square feet, approximately 65,000 rentable square feet, 365 employees and an average daily population of 350; it notes that some workers were contract employees.
| Source | Reported area | Reported people |
|---|---|---|
| HGA | 50,000 square feet | 380 employees, in the context of incorporating the relocated Emeryville office |
| Facility Executive (2018) | 50,000 square feet | 380 employees |
| Work Design (2018) | 50,000 square feet; approximately 65,000 rentable square feet | 365 employees; average daily population of 350 |
These figures should be kept attributed, not blended into a single supposedly definitive count. Work Design distinguishes the 50,000-square-foot figure from approximately 65,000 rentable square feet; the two measures are not interchangeable. Its account also separates the employee count from average daily population. The sources do not explain fully why the reported headcounts differ, so it would be misleading to select one without qualification.
When was the project completed?
Work Design reports that the project was completed in March 2017. Facility Executive described the redesign as recently completed in its May 16, 2018 coverage. HGA’s project page identifies the location and design but does not show a publication date in the cited account. These details place the renovation in the past; the reported headcounts describe the project at the time of coverage, not necessarily current staffing.
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The project is specifically AAA’s NCNU regional headquarters in Walnut Creek, serving Northern California, Nevada and Utah. It should not be confused with a corporate-wide redesign or taken as a description of every AAA office. The project sources focus on this facility and its design.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What makes the design more than corporate décor?
The project’s strongest organizing idea is the way recognizable road-trip references connect branding to actual workplace spaces. Hubcaps, tire-track-like wood, headlight-inspired lighting, rest-stop forms and license plates communicate the theme directly. Commissioned regional photographs add a local dimension, while the A-frame break rooms link a roadside building type to AAA’s three-letter name.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteAt the same time, the plan pairs identity with workplace choices. Smaller meeting settings respond to HGA’s account of meetings commonly involving four or fewer people; open and enclosed spaces provide alternatives; and flexible, height-adjustable workstations were selected with employee input. Those are concrete design decisions, not evidence by themselves of improved performance. The project account is most useful when read as a record of how AAA and HGA sought to shape a more distinctive and adaptable workplace, rather than as proof of post-renovation business results.
For a construction or interiors audience, that distinction is instructive: a theme can provide cohesion, but it has to be carried through the building in ways that support its daily program. In Walnut Creek, the road-trip concept appears in meeting rooms, circulation, break areas and material choices, while the planning brief addresses small-group collaboration, focus and flexible work. The result, as described by HGA and the trade publications, is a workplace where the visual story and the space-planning strategy are related but not confused.
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Sources and project scope
The project details here come from HGA, the designer, and two trade-publication accounts: Facility Executive and Work Design. The exact Building Design + Construction article named in the assignment was not available among the verified source materials, so no details are attributed specifically to that outlet. The available accounts provide substantial reporting on the same Walnut Creek project, while differences in area and headcount remain attributed to their respective sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was AAA’s Walnut Creek office a new building or a renovation?
The accounts describe it as an interior redesign or renovation of AAA’s regional headquarters, rather than a newly constructed headquarters building. HGA identifies it as the Walnut Creek facility serving the Northern California, Nevada and Utah region.
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HGA and Facility Executive report 380 employees, while Work Design reports 365 employees and an average daily population of 350, noting that some workers were contract employees. The available accounts do not fully explain the discrepancy, so the figures are best cited with their sources and contexts.
Did the headquarters redesign prove that employee retention or productivity improved?
No measured post-occupancy results are supplied in the project accounts for retention, productivity or space use. Those outcomes appear as workplace goals, not verified effects of the renovation.
What does the NCNU abbreviation refer to in this project?
It identifies AAA’s Northern California, Nevada and Utah regional organization. The Walnut Creek headquarters is described as serving those regions, rather than representing every AAA office.
