Here’s What Happened to the Theranos Headquarters

There’s a satisfying irony in a medical school replacing a company that grew briefly rich and famous for fraudulent medical devices

Photos courtesy of the author

Theranos had a thing about circles. In early discussions about the company’s logo, founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was drawn to a pagan-era pattern of overlapping circles re-christened the “Flower of Life” by more recent New Age writers, journalist John Carreyrou explained in Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. Circles appeared frequently in the company’s marketing materials; its logo highlighted the “o” in the company name.

So when the blood-testing company moved to a new corporate headquarters in late 2014 — back when Theranos was valued at $9 billion and no federal charges had been filed against any of its chief executives — South African architect Clive Wilkinson, who had been hired to redesign the interior, doubled down on the circle motif.

Desks fanned out from conference rooms in circular patterns. The floors were dotted with giant round brass meeting tables with embedded sinks. Arcing brass strips inlaid in the atrium’s marble floor formed the Flower of Life, a spiritual symbol that Theranos employees walked all over every day.