Cboe Global Markets

Invigorated workplace for a boundless future

Client: The Chicago Board Options Exchange
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Size: 185,000 square feet
Status: Completed 2021

Our team holds a longstanding relationship with Cboe Global Markets, with work spanning the globe. Recognizing their position as a premier financial services company, we are thrilled to help them create leading-edge workplaces for their people and future goals. Their vision and commitment to excellence is inspiring and we take pride in bringing that vision to life.

Stand-out projects from this relationship include a new headquarters in Chicago's Landmark Old Post Office building and a new trading floor in the original Chicago Board of Trade building. Elsewhere, we've provided design, workplace strategy and other diverse services to Cboe across their North American and international locations.

Focused on fostering connections, energy and buzz, the design engages with a sense of movement via rolling tickers and murals that visually change with light as one passes. Stunning views of the Chicago skyline are also remarkable from any vantage point.

005731 00 N233 Cdwebsite — Focused on fostering connections, energy and buzz, the design engages with a sense of movement via rolling tickers and murals that visually change with light as one passes. Stunning views of the Chicago skyline are also remarkable from any vantage point.

005731 00 N64 Cdwebsite — Focused on fostering connections, energy and buzz, the design engages with a sense of movement via rolling tickers and murals that visually change with light as one passes. Stunning views of the Chicago skyline are also remarkable from any vantage point.

A New HQ in a Chicago Landmark

Cboe’s dynamic new HQ located in the historic Chicago Old Post Office is a state-of-the-art workplace occupying four floors within two unique buildings with world-class features and amenities. The vibrant environment reflects Cboe’s dynamic industry and culture, and is infused with commissioned artwork, unique branding moments, custom furniture, screens and lighting to enrich the experience and story for all.

The work settings offer incredible choices for staff throughout, ranging from formal to informal, technologically immersive to thoughtful and quiet. Within the voluminous work area, glass pavilions house meeting spaces and offices to give scale to the space while uplit dynamic wood sculptural elements reflect movement and warmth. In the original landmarked mezzanine area, settings include a reclusive lounge, private dining and cantilevered-glass meeting rooms.

Read the Interior Design feature on Cboe's HQ

The HQ is where Cboe now charts its bold future and can comfortably host international guests and dignitaries, educate individuals interested in trading through their Options Institute, foster boundless innovation, and continue to outpace its industry.

005731 00 N9 Cdwebsite — The HQ is where Cboe now charts its bold future and can comfortably host international guests and dignitaries, educate individuals interested in trading through their Options Institute, foster boundless innovation, and continue to outpace its industry.

The work settings offer incredible choices from formal to informal, technologically immersive to thoughtful and quiet.

005731 00 N126 Cdwebsite — The work settings offer incredible choices from formal to informal, technologically immersive to thoughtful and quiet.

005731 00 N136 Cdwebsite — The work settings offer incredible choices from formal to informal, technologically immersive to thoughtful and quiet.

005731 00 N177 Cdwebsite — The work settings offer incredible choices from formal to informal, technologically immersive to thoughtful and quiet.

A focus on art

Focused on fostering connections, energy and buzz, the design offers numerous spaces to be experienced in motion. These include a “momentum” polished ceiling element with moving ticker displays that extends 140 feet above reception and reflects the skyline beyond, and art murals that visually change as people walk past them. Significant commissioned art based on complexity, algorithms and bold color reflecting Cboe’s business enriches an engaging, larger-than-life experience.

The Cboe story is also told via signature branding elements including bronze screens that reflect market movement, a colored trading jacket display, a global stamp mosaic echoing history, a global sketch skyline mural (sketched by our design principal for the project, Mark Hirons) highlighting their locations, and a color cable installation that speaks to the technology and energy that fuels options trading.

Our primary goal in selecting a new headquarters was to provide a unique, state-of-the-art environment for our employees and customers–one befitting an innovative company operating at the forefront of financial markets around the world.

Ed Tilly Chairman, President and CEO, Cboe Global Markets

A reflection mural uses algorithms, a medium used as well by Cboe within their trading, to reflect the movement of wind patterns over nearby Lake Michigan. Reflective colors of blue, green and yellow change as one passes by the mural, essentially bringing the art and space to life.

005731 00 N151 Cdwebsite — A reflection mural uses algorithms, a medium used as well by Cboe within their trading, to reflect the movement of wind patterns over nearby Lake Michigan. Reflective colors of blue, green and yellow change as one passes by the mural, essentially bringing the art and space to life.

Art and color bring joy to the space from all different perspectives and spaces in the workplace.

005731 00 N231 Cdwebsite — Art and color bring joy to the space from all different perspectives and spaces in the workplace.

Mark Hirons, the design leader for the project, personally sketched a skyline gallery that spans 55 feet long and 19 feet high, and serves as a larger-than-life experience to the world for Cboe team members as they traverse the space. The sketch visually unites Cboe locations and financial capitals to remind staff of their global impact.

CBOE Headquarters — Mark Hirons, the design leader for the project, personally sketched a skyline gallery that spans 55 feet long and 19 feet high, and serves as a larger-than-life experience to the world for Cboe team members as they traverse the space. The sketch visually unites Cboe locations and financial capitals to remind staff of their global impact.

A massive cable installation depicts the dynamic, energetic and sometimes chaotic nature of options trading. In one of the conference rooms, a colorful installation of neatly folded traders’ jackets speaks to the company’s storied past.

Nearly all of the meeting rooms throughout the space include commissioned art work.

005731 00 N40 Cdwebsite — Nearly all of the meeting rooms throughout the space include commissioned art work.

A dynamic new trading floor

Located in the historic Chicago Board of Trade Building, Cboe’s new trading floor spans the seventh and eighth floors, occupying more than 40,000 square feet, with double-height, floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook Chicago’s historic LaSalle Street financial district.

The new floor offers state-of-the-art infrastructure, enhanced technology capabilities, and a flexible, open and dynamic environment to facilitate more seamless and efficient interaction between traders. Other unique features of the floor include a bell-ringing platform overlooking the trading pit and state-of-the-art media broadcasting capabilities.