New 20,000-square-foot building features large-scale, interactive displays that immerse employees and visitors in the global reach of eBay commerce.

New York, NY (December 5, 2016) – eBay’s employees and visitors will now be immersed in the company’s vast community of users and the enormous volume of products sold through its system every day in Main Street, a 20,000-square-foot hub. The new building brings the scale of eBay’s platform to life through large-scale, interactive displays, dynamic media installations, and more.

Main Street, which opened late last month, is designed to serve as eBay’s new “front door.” With its distinctive glass walls and open views, the building offers employees and partners a welcoming, airy environment filled with natural light and interactive installations that allow them to experience and explore the global reach of eBay commerce. Main Street also serves as a state-of-the-art space for hosting meetings, conferences, and events of all sizes.

“Our primary goal for Main Street was to capture the pulse and vibrancy of eBay,” said eBay SVP Global Operations, Wendy Jones. “We are pleased with the outcome of the space, from the design,  to the interactive installations and displays,  and we believe it brings to life the breadth and depth of the global scale of eBay.”

“We wanted to design a dynamic experiential environment which immerses eBay employees and visitors in the excitement of the company,” says Edwin Schlossberg, founder and principal of ESI Design.

Deploying the same design philosophy that ESI Design has used to create experiences for cultural institutions, museums, and other public spaces for almost four decades, the design team drew upon its expertise in a variety of disciplines, including interactive software, visual media, technical systems and physical environment design, to conceive and create Main Street.

The centerpiece of the entry to Main Street is a 15-foot touchscreen wall where employees and visitors can tap icons representing cars, shoes, handbags, and other goods, then see how many items were sold in that category in the past few hours or days.

Ten-foot-tall LED columns line the Main Street entry, creating a threshold that frames the multi-touch wall at the end of the corridor and syncs with its content to create a dynamic canvas that spans the entire space. Two interactive touch screens at reception allow employees and partners to explore eBay People, Products, and Impact on an intimate scale. One screen showcases the eBay Community of employees, buyers, sellers, partners, and givers, while a second screen focuses on the eBay Store and Marketplace and what makes it unique. Using an app developed by eBay’s product team, employees and partners can purchase featured products on their mobile devices.

Main Street’s 7,150-square-foot Main Hall is where large meetings, conferences, events, and company-wide broadcasts will now take place, along with an open mezzanine for additional viewing during large events.  An enormous multi-screen display supports presentations and webcasts, creating a focal point for the space. During meeting breaks, colorful ambient movies are interspersed with data on eBay users’ searching and purchasing trends resulting in a visually stunning, real-time glimpse into how people are using the eBay platform.

Other highlights of Main Street include:

• Three executive conference rooms equipped with teleconferencing and collaborative work technologies.
• An outside deck for breaks during executive meetings and an exterior patio for lunches and informal meetings.
• A coffee bar and other informal spaces where employees can gather for small, impromptu meetings.
• The Gallery, a small shop where employees and partners can browse and purchase merchandise.

About ESI Design

ESI Design has been a pioneer in experience design and audience engagement since its founding by Edwin Schlossberg in 1977. The firm specializes in imaging and creating immersive and interactive environments that help brands, corporations and cultural institutions engage with audiences and customers in innovative, more meaningful ways. A New York-based, multidisciplinary firm, ESI Design has created memorable experiences, exhibits, and environments for such clients as PNC Financial Services Group, Best Buy, Barclays, Staples, AT&T, Comcast, The Edward M. Kennedy Institute, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., and Beacon Capital Partners. Connect with ESI Design: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Vimeo, and Instagram. (www.esidesign.com)

ESI Press Contact

Jenny Chang, jenny@pkpr.com
Corey Nord, corey@pkpr.com
PKPR, 212.627.8098
Images available on request.

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ESI Design Project Team for eBay

Principal Designer – Edwin Schlossberg
Art Direction – Jonathan Grimm
Account Director – Mayura Deshpande
Project Manager – Trip Kyle (physical), Caroline Bevan Rojek (media)
Physical Designer – Joe Karadin, Matt Weisgerber, Hyun Kyu Han
Creative Technologist: Ed Purver
Systems & Technology Designer – Emily Webster
Software & Interaction Designer – Lauren Gibbons
Visual Designer – Jonathan Grimm
Content Designer – Clay Gish
Animation – Jay Sienkwicz
Environmental & Wayfinding Graphics – Laura Gunther

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