What is the best office design you have seen? - fnazeeri
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heliodor
I'd think open layout designs do not qualify for this question as it's pretty
well established that they are bad for productivity.

~~~
lucb1e
And people get ill more often in open workspaces (versus cubicles).

I'm still going to opt for (at least semi-)open workspaces though. Despite the
downsides, they encourage communication a lot and it also feels more relaxed.
I think most of us know how often a lack of communication is the cause of
trouble.

~~~
einai
I think what feels more relaxed depends on the person in question. Many
introverts like myself feel a lot more comfortable in an enclosed workspace,
and thus, productivity is also increased.

~~~
31reasons
Exactly. People who can work at coffee shops find it natural and relaxing to
work in an open office but I never work at coffee shops because its
noisy,distracting and i don't drink coffee :)

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jacques_chester
I got to visit the StackExchange office in New York a few weeks ago. The
development floor is divided into hexagons. Two walls are glass (including a
door), the other 4 walls are white and double as whiteboards. Each office is
given two large desks which can be raised or lowered electrically.

Essentially it's another experiment in _PeopleWare_ architecture by Spolsky. I
liked that each developer had a private office, but I found that without
decoration the blank walls made it feel too much like the set of a 70s movie
dystopia.

[http://www.businessinsider.com.au/stack-exchange-office-
tour...](http://www.businessinsider.com.au/stack-exchange-office-
tour-2013-10#welcome-to-the-stack-exchange-1)

~~~
kbenson
I can't believe they actually posted 15 megapixel pictures for the slideshow.
37 of them. Made my connection slow to a crawl for quite a while.

~~~
agumonkey
Made my hard drive swap, 2GB ram 90% filled.

Chromium seems conservative about large resources.

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drusenko
I'm partial to ours :)

[https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pkcd36tw2febm66/tNYzHJY80d](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pkcd36tw2febm66/tNYzHJY80d)

~~~
d4vlx
That is a beautiful, amazing office, except for the part where people work. I
will not work in an open plan office like that. That is my opinion but as far
as I understand most scientific studies support it. As opposed to industry and
agile consultants hand waving arguments. For example:

[http://theconversation.com/open-plan-offices-attract-
highest...](http://theconversation.com/open-plan-offices-attract-highest-
levels-of-worker-dissatisfaction-study-18246)

~~~
drstewart
I will not work in "everybody gets an office" plans ever again. It felt like I
was the last man on earth every day, you'd never see anybody. Horribly
isolated environment. Glad to work in an open plan office.

~~~
VikingCoder
I've been in both, and here are my two bits:

It's awesome to work in an open plan with other people who are working on THE
SAME THING you are working on, and it absolutely sucks to be surrounded by
people who are working on completely different things.

Also bad: not being able to find a place to work together on something with
other people.

And the worst: not being able to find a quiet place to concentrate, when you
need to.

I think the answer is a combination of quiet offices with very many small
conference rooms that can be claimed for projects... and a large, anything-
goes space (like a cafeteria) for when you don't mind complete chaos.

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mcone
I've always wanted to visit Pixar's office.

[http://officesnapshots.com/2012/07/16/pixar-headquarters-
and...](http://officesnapshots.com/2012/07/16/pixar-headquarters-and-the-
legacy-of-steve-jobs/)

------
seanhandley
I love ours, the Melbourne Hosting office in Manchester, UK:

[http://www.melbourne.co.uk/about-melbourne/we-have-
moved/](http://www.melbourne.co.uk/about-melbourne/we-have-moved/)

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strzalek
[https://www.panic.com/blog/the-panic-office/](https://www.panic.com/blog/the-
panic-office/)

~~~
rbanffy
How much do you charge for working there ;-) ?

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athesyn
[http://37signals.com/office](http://37signals.com/office)

~~~
pearjuice
Looks like a really cold place to work. So much space allocated to void, you
can probably hear your voice echo.

~~~
trumbitta2
Not a problem, since they don't actually use it that much. In REMOTE, they
state that there are a maximum of 6 persons (they are 30+) at the office on
any given day.

~~~
pearjuice
That makes the problem only bigger.

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hatsix
I recently visited the New Relic office in Portland and had serious office-
envy.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPgFhlyc7s0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPgFhlyc7s0)

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fnazeeri
[http://www.businessinsider.com/the-ultimate-office-for-
athle...](http://www.businessinsider.com/the-ultimate-office-for-athletes-and-
people-seeking-a-healthier-lifestyle-2011-7)

I am fascinated by this idea of designing a space with the goal of helping
employees live longer / happier lives. I would love this for our new space. Is
this crazy?

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jnl
Heavybit

[http://www.heavybit.com/clubhouse](http://www.heavybit.com/clubhouse)

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cimorene12
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/03/08/10-coo...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/03/08/10-cool-
office-spaces/)

I work at one of the companies listed.

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Avinio
Few of the Silicon Valley firms offices

[http://www.decoist.com/2013-08-22/silicon-valley-offices-
tec...](http://www.decoist.com/2013-08-22/silicon-valley-offices-tech-
interior-trends/)

~~~
fnazeeri
Wow, amazing photos. I'm struck by how pervasive sitting is. Everyone assumes
people should sit, but the data are clear that we should be standing.

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taylorhou
the entrance to mothernewyork.com's office is like a bustling kitchen + coffee
shop. the receptionist of course asks you what you'd like to drink.

hands down the best and most cultured agency office on my startup trip there
last week.

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jreed91
Seeing as many companies get their furniture from Allsteel, they have a
fantastic headquarters.
[http://www.allsteeloffice.com](http://www.allsteeloffice.com)

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sandGorgon
I have a question, primarily since Im a heavy user of redshift these days.

What kind of _artificial_ lighting is good - white lighting or the yellowish,
natural lighting.

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atom-morgan
I'm a huge advocate of white lighting. Yellow lighting hurts my eyes.

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jfb
Pixar and it's not even close.

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mkramlich
small, quiet, private, plenty of desktop space and wall space, plenty of power
outlets. ability to increase/decrease light and temperature to taste.
comfortable healthy chair. adjustable heights for chair, desktop, keyboard and
monitor. other folks can't sneak up from behind you. hard/impossible to be
interrupted, especially by chit-chatters.

