Am I the only one turned off by this kind of nonsense?
When I interview in a conference room with portholes and a nautical door, or see a hallway like this done up like a subway car, I can't help but thinking I'm surrounded by children, like I accidentally stepped into Disneyland instead of an office.
I mean, I like having fun, but I also like feeling like an adult. I don't want theme-park offices, I want natural lighting and good acoustics that muffle conversations. I don't want Nerf wars, I want product managers that know what they're doing.
There are bad, "crappy" offices, and there are theme-park offices. I'd rather avoid them both, and just work in the ones that are well-designed period.
Agreed. If I see that a company has spent millions of dollars on gimmicky decor or high-priced architects, my first thought would be: why don't they put all that money in the pockets of the employees instead? Or maybe spend it on something I might find useful, like quiet, private office spaces.
And why would I want to be reminded of a subway car every time I walk down the hall? Subway cars aren't exactly pleasant places to be: they're noisy and crowded and smelly. I avoid them whenever possible (I'd walk a half an hour to avoid riding the subway). It would get old really quickly.
Hmm, whenever I'm feeling sort of blue, and have a bit of time, I go out and just ride the train around randomly... it makes me feel ... free...
Indeed, I've often thought about taking a laptop and working there too (at midday, crowding's not so much of an issue)!
A subway's not quite as nice as a surface train in that respect (not much view!), but it has some of the same "going somewhere but never quite arriving" vibe that can be very appealing.
[If your subway is smelly and noisy, of course, that's a side-effect of your populace, not an inherent property of subways.]
I worked at a company that did "theme offices" - mine was "the tiki room"; my cubicle was a grass hut accessible via a wooden-plank walkway (there were two other huts, a bit of sand, and a fish tank). We had a Star Trek-themed conference room and an Old West room where people's cubes were the bank, the jail and such, with those swinging bar doors you see in old westerns.
Our setup didn't cost "millions of dollars" and was actually cheaper than traditional cubicles, which can be surprisingly expensive.
Haha, that really sounds cool... I'd totally love to work in such a place.
And yeah, office space, especially in a major city, is never cheap, and a lot of the expense is inherent in the cost of the space itself. If you're paying for super expensive real-estate, doesn't it make sense to spend a tiny bit more to make it as nice/cool as possible?
When I interview in a conference room with portholes and a nautical door, or see a hallway like this done up like a subway car, I can't help but thinking I'm surrounded by children, like I accidentally stepped into Disneyland instead of an office.
I mean, I like having fun, but I also like feeling like an adult. I don't want theme-park offices, I want natural lighting and good acoustics that muffle conversations. I don't want Nerf wars, I want product managers that know what they're doing.
There are bad, "crappy" offices, and there are theme-park offices. I'd rather avoid them both, and just work in the ones that are well-designed period.