We’ve been enjoying articles by designers showing hyper-cool office spaces. Like clothes on runways, though, sometimes the coolness comes at a price.
First and foremost, offices need to work. You spend eight hours or more in your office, and not more than 20 or 30 minutes of that time can be spent basking in the pleasure of working in such a cool office. The rest of the time, you have to be able to reach information easily, get to your computer to get those spread sheets done, answer email, meet with people, share ideas, build things, and generally get stuff done.
We ran across this inspiring photo and saw the charm… But we can’t help but notice that people sitting in this area can’t easily face one another for conversation, can’t reach over and grab the books they need without walking up and down steps, can’t see the presentation behind them, and have nowhere to put either their coffee or their tablets.
How is anyone supposed to accomplish anything? After an hour spend balancing stuff, craning necks to see one another, and tumbling down stairs every time they try to reach a document, the people in this office won’t think it’s so cool anymore.
Seriously, this is a special purpose room, not really an office at all. That’s fine. But your office should be designed so that most of the time you’re there, you don’t have to think about it. Your mind should be able to soar — or to focus intently on numbers, if that’s what you do — without the distraction of office furniture and design that doesn’t work well.