
37 Signals' New office (pics and video) - nphase
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2593-official-pictures-of-our-new-office
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hop
My dream office would be a Swiss chalet at the foot of a mountain. Multiple
giant roaring fireplaces going 24/7. Ski in ski out. Girls in Bavarian outfits
serving Oktoberfest beer and food. Backbone Internet speeds. 27" iMacs all
around with matte screens and SSD's. Treadmill desks. Weightroom, sauna,
soaking tub, raquetball, basketball court, full time Swedish masseuse. Banksy
tags outside. Old masters and some crazy art from some tag artist friends
inside. A Newfoundland that hangs out. No conference rooms. Giant whiteboards
that slide up and down like they had in college. Sound proof meditation room.
Those Red leather chairs they use on stage at allthingsD. Aston Martin fleet.
Ridiculous gun room. Huge bbq, smoker on the rooftop. Taco truck outside.
Automated laundry service. Machine shop with 5 axis CNC machines and 3d
printers.

I don't know where that came from... seams prudent.

~~~
amackera
Have you considered a career as a James Bond antagonist?

~~~
hop
Yes but we will antagonize out of touch, established companies with sharks
fitted with lasers while making better software/hardware. And have perennially
dominating Formula 1 team.

~~~
andymism
You can actually do better by selling software and hardware infrastructure to
other evil geniuses working to antagonized (er... disrupt) established
companies.

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mcfunley
I am biased but this looks insufferably sterile compared to where I work:

[http://tycole.blogspot.com/2010/05/etsy-office-in-dumbo-
hang...](http://tycole.blogspot.com/2010/05/etsy-office-in-dumbo-hangar-
design.html)

~~~
duck
Esty's office space looks sweet, but how do they keep that place clean? Even
in normal offices I am always surprised how must dust collects everywhere and
that is with cleaners coming in every day... can't imagine anyone ever dusting
a giant owl.

~~~
mcfunley
It is a bit of a mystery to me, too, but it's clean. Equal parts office
managers, people pitching in, a custodian every night, and my dachshund
patrolling the ground for remnants of food.

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moe
I guess I'm in the minority but that office doesn't look attractive to me at
all.

It left a dark, cold and sterile impression on me...

~~~
seanalltogether
I was surprised by the chalk boards, do other devs/designers people really
prefer those over whiteboards?

~~~
MartinCron
Perhaps it's a contrarian thing?

Most developers use whiteboards, so the exceedingly tasteful folks at
37signals will surely use something more refined.

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mrduncan
Looks amazing, just watch out for the "curse of a new building".

[http://steveblank.com/2009/05/15/supermac-war-
story-11-the-c...](http://steveblank.com/2009/05/15/supermac-war-story-11-the-
curse-of-a-new-building/)

~~~
acangiano
Is there anything that Steve hasn't written about? :)

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edw519
Kudos to Jason for giving nice referrals (with links!) to his vendors. I wish
we'd see more of this.

[Aside: Is that DHH having a snack at the stainless steel table, and was he
really working or just surfing Hacker News?]

~~~
jasonfried
I'll be writing up a post about what it was like working with each vendor as
well. Not sure when I'll get around to it, but I'm looking forward to sharing
the experience.

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run4yourlives
Seems like it would be "loud" to me. While I think it looks awesome, the fact
that they have a room for the phone means that it probably echoes a good deal
with that roof.

I'm a bit of a Spolsky-ite when it comes to office space - everyone should
have an office - so it isn't my dream layout, but I will say the design is
very, very cool.

~~~
sstephenson
It's actually very quiet in person. The space reminds me of a university
library. Most of the materials, from the carpet, to the felt paneling, to the
corkboard in the team rooms, to the dividers between desks, to the tiles on
the rear walls, were chosen specifically for their sound-dampening qualities.

The phone booths are a reaction to our former space where we'd get up and go
out into the hallway to take phone calls. They exist because we value privacy,
not because the office is too loud.

~~~
run4yourlives
Cool, thanks for the additional info.

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Keyframe
I've seen this link of inventionland offices today:
[http://www.officesnapshots.com/2010/09/29/inventionland-
offi...](http://www.officesnapshots.com/2010/09/29/inventionland-offices/) \-
looks even better than pixar's animators booths.

~~~
lovskogen
Better? How could you stay sane in that environment?

~~~
Keyframe
Why couldn't you?

~~~
lovskogen
It's so far-fetched and fake that I'd end up dressing like Willy Wonka and try
hiring midgets to do my work.

~~~
Keyframe
Hah, fair enough! Pixar seems to be doing a fine job in an environment similar
to that one though. Probably depends on the job you're doing too. I couldn't
imagine walking into a bank that has clerks on a pirate ship... or maybe I
could.

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antidaily
Great textures going on. Like the space a lot.

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mhartl
Maybe update the story title? The company name is "37signals", not "37
Signals". (Some people consider the distinction pedantic, but I'm a pedant.)

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krobertson
I like all the small conference rooms. Would love to have a ton of small
rooms. Not for meetings, but when we want to pair/talk something out, often go
somewhere where we wouldn't disrupt others. Plus easier for video/phone
conferencing with someone remote. Small room, few chairs, phone, table, and a
whiteboard. Plenty of markers and erasers, since those always get stolen.

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pkaler
I love the textures. I also love the contrast of the wood and concrete. It
also looks very well lit.

The first thought that came to mind was that this is the type of office space
that Howard Roark would architect.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Architectural_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Architectural_theme)

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neovive
Very nice. This office seems to fit their philosophy very well -- clean and
simple without excess distractions. I wonder if they studied existing research
on the effects of workspace on productivity and creativity.

Perhaps, this will start a new trend in office design for SaaS companies.

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huhtenberg
"Very nice, very nice. How much?"

Seriously, very curious of a ballpark figure for the renovation.

~~~
jasonfried
A bit over a million total for everything including furniture.

~~~
huhtenberg
Thanks. Money well spent it seems :)

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maheshs
Congratulations to Jason Fried & David Hansson for new good looking office.

~~~
maheshs
why down vote. Should i take my congratulations back.

~~~
ekanes
You were most likely downvoted because people don't want threads filling up
with a bunch of "congrats!" type comments, which are admittedly friendly but
don't really add anything to the conversation.

Even though one or two might not seem like too many, "none" is a simpler
heuristic than "how many are there? Ok, we have enough, downvote any new
ones..."

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Maro
I really like the clean industrial style of the new offices.

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davidw
Looks nice, but it's still in Chicago - no thanks :-)

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clistctrl
I never understood this mentality. Why do all the "Cool" companies have to
live on the coast? It bothers me that I have to live 2000 miles away from my
family if I want a great job. The Midwest has many appealing features.

~~~
sabat
Please help me understand what those appealing features are. I am not being
snarky. My wife is currently trying to get me to consider moving back there
because everything is cheaper. Sure, it's cheaper: it is, as far as I am
currently concerned, a less desirable place to live. Being from California,
I'm clearly snobbish. So seriously, what am I missing about the Chicagoland
area? Keep in mind: I'm used to nice weather, beautiful and varied natural
environment, and a distinctive culture. And thin people.

~~~
chrisduesing
It really depends on what you are looking for, and all of the points you made
are true. However, Chicago has some great things going for it IF you like
living IN the city. Chicago's winters are brutal, but the rest of the year is
gorgeous. Chicago overall has much better weather than San Fran, though much
worse than the rest of the Bay Area. If you want to raise a family, while
living in the city, it is both doable and affordable here. Areas like Wicker
Park and Lakeview have pretty tree lined streets, brick 3-flats, amazing
restraunts, coffee shops, record stores etc etc. The bars are amazing, good
music venues, oh and you will never have to get behind the wheel drunk because
you cannot walk 5 feet without seeing a cab for hire. There are great artist
and developer communities here, as well as a budding startup scene.

I am not saying you should rush out of San Fran for Chicago, but if you are
considering moving here you should give it serious consideration.

One caveat, for the love of god don't move to the suburbs. They are filled
with mid-westerners. scary.

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points
Sterile, pretentious, cold. As expected :/

~~~
jasonfried
Come by sometime and you'll see its none of those things.

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swah
On the end of the video, the guy is using an iMac right beside a huge window.
No way this would work.

~~~
jasonfried
It's real, it works. It's a north facing bank of windows - no direct sun.

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bretthellman
Gorgeous!

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snorkel
The 37 signals worship here is a tad bit annoying.

