EF’s new 300,000-square-foot, $125 million Cambridge headquarters sits atop a once underutilized industrial site in North Point, at 8 Education Street, wedged between Interstate 93 and the Charles River. Standing 10 stories, this building features the state’s largest open-plan workspace – one of the largest open-plan workspaces in the world, in fact – and a glass waterfall, running down the diamond-shaped facility’s river-facing exterior.

Governor Deval Patrick and Senator Elizabeth Warren will join members of the Hult family – EF’s founding family – and rock star Swedish architect Gert Wingardh to cut a ribbon Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday afternoon, however, BostInno toured the innovative digs, alongside EF public relations director Adam Bickelman, VP of Development Dana Santucci, and EF’s internal-interior design guru Fiona Kennedy. 

Our walkthrough started on the ground floor – a well-lit open-to-the public space, which includes a 440-seat restaurant. The two-plus hour tour included stops on the second, third, fourth and 10th floors.

Each floor offers unique collaborative environments, 360-degree views of the city, and interior, glass-waterfall-facing balconies where employees and/or visitors can stand and overlook the staggered, maze-like levels of the office building.

Every view, every floor-plan – and every carpet – inside EF is unique; there’s nothing cookie-cutter about this collaborative workspace.

EF Education First was founded in 1965. Now, this global education leader has 500 schools and offices in more than 50 countries across the world, each of which have been designed to a) represent the needs of its diverse, young employees; and b) encapsulate the traits and characteristics of each city EF is located.