In January 2020, KPMG executives gathered in Orlando for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Lakehouse, a sprawling, state-of-the-art learning and innovation center designed to be the firm’s cultural home. Just two months later, the world shuttered under the weight of a global pandemic.
While the timing appeared catastrophic—and many partners grumbled about how it was surely coming out of their compensation—the $450 million investment transformed into what leadership now describes as a strategic “accelerant” for the firm’s most ambitious pivot ever: the AI revolution. Today, Lakehouse is one of the firm’s major hubs for training a new generation of professionals to navigate a world where generative AI is no longer a peripheral tool but a core component of professional service.
Fortune was invited to sit in on a three-day session with 600 winter interns, chosen from a pool of 9,000 applicants, representing 146 schools, as the waves of talent from New Jersey to Utah to Texas celebrated leaving school by essentially going back to class again. Lakehouse had bits of flair located throughout, such as the KPMG-branded “GEN AI Invaders” arcade game, but the large, modern building feels like a blend of a state-of-the-art hotel, a KPMG office building and a learning center.
The Immersive Cultural Home
Lakehouse has 800 single-occupancy guest rooms (staffed by long-term partner Hyatt) and common areas on each floor, complete with a fully packed fridge. Lakehouse boasts high-end dining amenities, including the Common Ground grab-and-go coffee shop, a wine bar called Blend, a sports bar known as The Landing and a market-style food hall called The Exchange, where you have coiches including shawarma, pizza, salads and more. (It even features a company history section, including a 1932 edition of Fortune, profiling the hot new sector known as accounting.)
It’s a far cry from the accounting, auditing and consulting firm—known for its royal-blue color scheme and its status as one of the “Big 4” in corporate accounting, along with PwC, EY and Deloitte—and its gleaming new headquarters in New York City, as toured by Fortune‘s Eva Roytburg in November. The firm’s new Chair and CEO, Timothy Walsh, who began his five-year term in July 2025, spoke to Fortune in October about the fear “that honestly keeps me up at night,” around cyber and quantum evolving faster than KPMG and its clients can keep ahead of…