Image Gallery: Best and Worst Workplace Design | BNET

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

•  
  AnnahRoss03/06/08 Report as spam
  1

  The UK seems to have it right after all!

  My new company is about to have a new building built and as I had been asked to input into the design requirements I went into this article hoping for lots of ideas. Having worked for an American company in the past I have always been slightly envious of the cube environment over there and found it difficult to explain the open plan, lower dividers, open canteen areas and small meeting tables dotted around in UK offices... but all the 'good' photos could have been taken from the various UK companies that I've worked! It's nice to know that this is actually a more conducive working environment after all and I'll stop hankering after the cubes!

•  
  lm@...03/07/08 Report as spam
  2

  RE: Windows (Image Gallery: Best and Worst Workplace Design)

  I have to disagree-all of these treat people as non-humans. People need a tiny bit of privacy-to call their doctor, scratch their nose, or just think, without having someone stare at them or being forced to listen to their neighbors chat, phone calls, loud earphones--oh yes, and business too. Even worse if your supervisor is sitting behind you watching everything you do. And it's really not healthy to expose your neighbor to the emissions from your CRT.
  
  It's true that low dividers offer the chance to rest your eyes, hopefully by seeing out (distant) windows. The best space I have worked in was a large room with four corner workstations-we worked with our backs to each other, but a small peninsula between each station made it easy to wheel over to confer, while a central table make impromptu meetings quick and non-disruptive. a small room with a phone allowed privacy for personal calls (without having to book a board room), and a kitchenette with a table provided for snack and lunch breaks. Another setup had translucent "shower doors" for when privacy was needed.
  
  and why are ceiling noise baffles so ignored?

•  
  Nicole Solis03/07/08 Report as spam
  3

  The need for privacy

  You're absolutely right. That's why a crucial part of these designs is the iso-pods or hotel stations -- small, private spaces. That way, you can work collaboratively, but you can also dash off to make a doctor's appointment or call your credit card company to contest a charge on your bill.
  
  At my company, they make it known that anyone on staff can reserve any conference room or hotel station for these reasons. I even use them to practice mandolin at lunch (and, I must point out, I only reserve conference rooms that are removed from people's work stations and I only do it during lunch hours, when people are less likely to need the rooms for work-related purposes).

•  
  cblapp03/07/08 Report as spam
  4

  Noise Level in Open Offices

  I agree with the comment about privacy, but it goes farther than that. In our office conference rooms are at a premium, "talk rooms" (partially walled corners) are limited and do not limit the noise, and conference calls are the norm. I spend most of my days with earplugs or headphones on just to get enough quiet to think about my work.
  
  Any office worker whose job requires them to concentrate carefully on their work needs quiet. This is something that cannot be accomplished in today's cube farms, no matter how high or low the walls. Building walls to divide the areas with only about 4 people to an area is better. Glass is great if there's a way to keep the noise down. Even better, designing buildings around a courtyard to allow two sets of offices across the building, each with a set of windows but solid (and soundproofed) walls would give workers a space where they can think, write, code, and be creative.
  
  Finally, my office is designed with cubes where the computers are in the corners and we sit facing away from the aisle. For someone like me, who startles easily, just having someone walk into my cube is a problem. I am constantly looking over my shoulder to see who walked by and whether they are waiting for me. Many of us have put little mirrors on our computers to keep people from (unintentionally) sneaking up on us. This is not a way to live. I prefer to face the door of an office (and have even re-arranged furniture in a cube to do it), so that I am not startled when someone walks in. It takes a lot less time to recover a train of thought that way.

•  
  roja6903/12/08 Report as spam
  5

  RE: Windows (Image Gallery: Best and Worst Workplace Design)

  Is topick mis-spelled on purpose?

•  
  CAIRN12304/13/08 Report as spam
  6

  RE: Windows (Image Gallery: Best and Worst Workplace Design)

  is it possible to get a downloadable version of this article

•  
  Acerebel07/24/08 Report as spam
  7

  RE: Windows (Image Gallery: Best and Worst Workplace Design)

  I've never understood the value of Cubicle World.
  
  I don't believe it leads to collaboration or a sense of being part of a team. Instead, it leads to time-wasting interruptions and the sensation of being constantly under assault by other people's voices, typing, ringing phones, arrivals and departures.
  
  I recall reading something that said those of us in open cubicle space endure up to 60 (yes, 60!) interruptions to our thought processes per day ("Wanna a coffee?", telephone calls from three other workers around us, "Hey, how was your vacation?", "I'll show you my photos!", and so on) and that it can take up to 15 minutes to really get back into a piece of work that required concentration. Well, so much for productivity!
  
  I think cubicle world came about because someone decided it was cheaper to throw up small partitions than it was to build offices; did they actually do a total cost analysis, though, of the kind David Suzuki recommends re so-called product innovations? I'll bet not.
  
  Bring back offices and leave the "open space" for the collaborative work, rather than the other way round.

•  
  gellibrand09/06/08 Report as spam
  8

  RE: Windows (Image Gallery: Best and Worst Workplace Design)

  Anyone read Ricardo Semler's book "Maverick". He can teach most of us a thing or 2 about office design.

•  
  garrf10/02/08 Report as spam
  9

  RE: Windows (Image Gallery: Best and Worst Workplace Design)

  Having worked for 7 long years in a 4 person cubicle facing the wall, when a bright young lady suggested we rotate our desks so we face each other and use our computer terminals as a barrier to hide behind when needed it was a breath of fresh air.How ever no matter what kind of work you do at some point you need privacy and this layout does not provide it. I like the concept of offices on either side of a court yard with lots of glass and the ability to shut the door so one can concentrate, ponder and just take a deep breath. thanks for the opportunity to contribute.