In celebration of our upcoming Business Edition, we are covering the multidimensional world of business; not only in terms of finance and management, but humanity, design, and technology as well.
For starter, we present to you a glimpse of our special coverage on how big business like Google and Facebook turn their office cubicles into creative space. Be prepared to watch and learn more about these cool office design on our next edition - available on bookstores this October.
Google's building in the Big Apple's Chelsea area sees a lot of their rooms with awkward-looking decorative pictures on the walls that have characteristics of their own. If you're feeling stuck at your own designated cubicle, you can move around the building and look at other places that you feel comfortable for you to work, including a casual café that comes with a micro kitchen where coffee and snacks are always around. Google also welcomes its employee's pets with open arms should they need to bring their furry friends to the office.
Nestled in Silicon Valley with its equally famous neighbors, this first ‘baby’ of Mark Zuckerberg has offices with vast bullpens that can accommodate up to 900 people, without any walls or dividers in between to promote the company’s ethos of openness. Workers in need of distractions of their daily routine can choose from playing video games, to more traditional pastimes like chess and table tennis battles.
SKYPE
The office space used to be a brewery in the past, but has now been transferred into a hi-tech and sleek space for around 100 Skype staff by PS Arkitektur, consisting of audio and video studios, offices and social areas. The design is based on Skype's spirit, which is aiming to be a useful and playful tool to connect the world. On white walls and wooden floors, playful and happy colors are splashed all over to brighten up the space, finished with colorful rounded soft furniture that looks a lot like Skype graphics.
SKYSCANNER.COM
The employees get to show off their creativity, as seen from the features they ask to be built within this office; an herb garden and a huge live plant wall. Their geeky side also comes out in the form of Lego walls, quirky furniture and giant superhero paintings. To complete the overall look, Hungarian designer lamps, a huge Budapest puzzle map on conference room tables and a 13.5 m mural were installed as decorations.
PHOTOS officesnapshot.com, Madilancos Studio and more
