Adobe Founders Tower
The Adobe Founders Tower is an 18-story, 1.3-million-square-foot building in San Jose and the fourth tower at Adobe’s headquarters campus. Magnum partnered with architect Gensler to complete the interior finishing work across three divisions: Ceilings, Painting and Wallcoverings, and Division 10 Specialties. The scope covered more than 202,000 square feet of ceiling installation, custom graphics, executive-level specialty finishes, and acoustical systems throughout the entire building.
The Founders Tower is the first all-electric building of its size in Silicon Valley. It runs on 100% renewable energy and holds LEED certification, consistent with all four buildings at Adobe’s San Jose headquarters. Magnum’s work on this project reflects the same standard: precise execution across multiple trades, coordinated under one commercial finishing contractor.
An Award-Winning Project
The Adobe Founders Tower earned the 2024 Excellence in Construction Gold Award in the Office Above 50,000 Square Feet category from the Ceilings and Interior Systems Construction Association (CISCA). The award recognizes outstanding quality and craftsmanship in commercial ceiling installation, and the Magnum team’s work on all 202,000 square feet of ceiling panels in the building was the basis for the recognition.
CISCA’s Excellence in Construction awards are among the most respected credentials in the commercial interiors industry. For Magnum, this recognition reflects consistent quality across a project of significant scale and complexity — the kind of work that distinguishes a commercial ceiling contractor from the competition.
Sound Control Across 1.3 Million Square Feet
Beyond the all-hands space, the Ceiling Division provided tens of thousands of square feet of acoustical wallcovering systems and custom ceiling finishes across the building’s work floors. Acoustical ceilings installation in commercial office environments serves a dual purpose: it controls sound in open collaboration areas and reduces sound transfer between enclosed offices and shared spaces. In a building with over 400 distinct work environments, getting that right across every zone requires experienced commercial ceiling contractors who understand both the technical and design requirements of each space.
CONTRACTOR
Devcon Construction Inc.
LOCATION
San Jose, CA
DESIGNER / ARCHITECT
Gensler
DIVISIONS
Ceilings, Painting, Wallcoverings, & Specialties
Project Gallery
Adobe Founders Tower
Painting, Wallcoverings, and Custom Graphics
Custom graphics carry throughout the entire Founders Tower, and Magnum’s Painting and Wallcoverings Division was responsible for bringing that continuity to life. Commercial painting and wallcovering work at this scale requires precise coordination with other trades, consistent quality control across thousands of square feet, and the ability to execute specialty finishes that hold up in high-traffic commercial environments. The Adobe Founders Tower is a strong example of what that looks like in practice.
Not Just a Workspace, a Community
The Founders Tower includes over 400 distinct environments — team neighborhoods, drop-in desks, and collaboration areas — designed to support different working styles across Adobe’s workforce. The building was conceived as a place where teams can connect and work in ways that a traditional office layout doesn’t accommodate.
Finishing work in a building like this isn’t straightforward. Each of those environments has its own acoustic, aesthetic, and functional requirements, and the work has to hold across all of them. Magnum’s ability to deliver ceilings, painting, wallcoverings, and specialty finishes under one contract meant Adobe and Devcon had a single point of accountability for the interior finishing scope — no coordination gaps between subcontractors, no inconsistencies between trades.
Five Trades, One Contractor
Three Magnum divisions worked together on the Adobe Founders Tower: Ceilings, Painting and Wallcoverings, and Division 10 Specialties. Consolidating the interior finishing scope under one commercial subcontractor simplified coordination across 1.3 million square feet and kept the project on track through a complex, multi-phase build.
Magnum brings five trades together under one contract — drywall, acoustical ceilings, painting and wallcoverings, plaster, and Division 10 specialties — serving general contractors and developers across Northern and Southern California. For projects that demand precision at scale, that structure matters. Contact Magnum today to discuss your next commercial construction project.