Following our previous visit to Dattner Architects, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in New York City this week to explore the work of Mapos Architects.

Founded in 2008 by Colin Brice and Caleb Mulvena, the firm houses an “integrated team of architects, designers, and hard-to-label creative instigators that works with clients and colleagues to design creative concepts, architectural environments, and experiential branding.” Over the past two decades, the firm has grown a portfolio spanning retail, hospitality, residential, and workplace, with strategies from adaptive reuse to exhibits to master planning.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Senior Architect Project Manager to join their New York City team. For candidates interested in applying for a position or anybody interested in learning more about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four interiors by Mapos that exemplify the firm’s ethos.

Innisfree NYC Store, New York, NY

Innisfree commissioned Mapos to create a distinctive experience for their new 1,600-square-foot store in Midtown Manhattan. The goal was to convey the natural essence of the leading K-Beauty brand while embracing a New York City aesthetic of glamour and grit. Mapos stripped the space down to raw steel and concrete, used as an unadorned canvas backdrop. To populate the space, two concepts drove the design: The Island and Scaffolding. 

"The Island" is an 18-foot centerpiece carved from black lava rock, featuring lush plants, testable products, a custom washbasin, and a recycling area. The central element guides visitors through the store, mimicking a journey around Jeju. Meanwhile, reimagining the city’s ubiquitous scaffolding, Mapos designed a bright white structure that holds plants, lighting, and products, contrasting with the industrial textures. The lower scaffold displays Innisfree's colorful products, while the upper portion becomes a deconstructed plant wall with integrated lighting.

Innisfree Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea

Less than a year after designing Innisfree's New York flagship store, Mapos was re-engaged by the Korean beauty brand to develop a new global retail concept and design guidelines. To deepen their understanding, the firm traveled to Seoul and explored Jeju Island, experiencing the volcanic landscape that provides ingredients for all Innisfree products. Drawing from this immersion, Mapos created an experience-driven environment suitable for multiple store formats worldwide.

The design features fixtures that display stock openly, akin to a bakery or ceramics studio, celebrating organized density. The store façade is composed of custom handmade ceramic tiles that evoke Jeju's volcanic rock formations. Inside, customers first encounter sculptural Curation and Promotion Tables inspired by the island's natural forms. Custom ceramic pendant lights, influenced by traditional Korean Onggi pots, are arranged throughout the space, enhancing the utilitarian yet bespoke atmosphere.

Fila Headquarters, New York, NY

Having outgrown its previous office, Fila North America commissioned Mapos to design a new headquarters in New York City. Mapos collaborated with representatives from each Fila department to identify three primary objectives: expand the workspace for a growing staff, create extensive storage solutions for thousands of products to enhance efficiency, and design memorable, brand-relevant public spaces that engage visitors with Fila's history and optimistic vision for the future.

To achieve these goals, Mapos focused on dual-function design solutions that addressed both storage needs and brand image enhancement. They leveraged the new location, a full floor in a midtown high-rise with 360-degree views of the New York skyline, using the building's concrete structure as a neutral backdrop for Fila's vibrant brand colors. This approach led to the development of an integrated office-wide "system" of storage and workspace elements. Additionally, they created a brand-wide "system" of materials, graphics, and touchpoints that narrate the Fila story.

LivePerson Atlanta Offices, Atlanta, GA

Mapos was commissioned by tech company LivePerson to design its new offices in Atlanta, Georgia, the fifth collaboration between the two companies. The new Atlanta office is LivePerson's largest to date, spanning 35,000 square feet over two floors and housing over 200 employees across multiple teams. Among the challenges presented by the project included unifying a large community, catering to individual needs, and keeping the budget under $70 per square foot.

To address these challenges, Mapos created a design process that involved LivePerson ambassadors, seeking to ensure that end users felt connected to the design and had ownership of the final product. The team reinterpreted existing branded elements and integrated them into the new design, guided by two of LivePerson's core values: transparency and building communities.

Meet Your Next Employer is one of a number of ongoing weekly series showcasing the opportunities available on our industry-leading job board. Our Job Highlights series looks at intriguing and topical employment opportunities currently available on Archinect Jobs, while our weekly roundups curate job opportunities by location, career level, and job description.