L.L. Bean’s employees spent decades working in the dark. Its new HQ is radically open

The outdoor gear company’s new headquarters adds visibility to its workspaces and its work.

For an outdoor clothing and gear company, L.L. Bean’s offices were surprisingly cloistered. “About 90% of our employees did not have access to natural daylight. There were parts of the building that were like a cave,” says Shawn Gorman, the 111-year-old company’s executive chairman. As the great-grandson of founder Leon Leonwood Bean, Gorman has worked at the privately owned company for more than 30 years. For that entire time and decades longer, L.L. Bean has been running essentially in the dark. “It was just so inconsistent with who we were as a brand,” Gorman says.

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