Reimagining the Boardroom, Part 2: Cubicles and Sleep-pods

Back in 2009, I wrote a little rant about how many office buildings are squandering the potential of their physical spaces, with a focus on boardrooms:

"Important decisions are made in our boardrooms. So why aren’t they tailored to maximize their effectiveness? In a building with ten boardrooms, why do they all look the same?"

So my latest question is this: if most office buildings have outdoor space that is — officially or unofficially — allocated for workers to take smoke breaks, why are there no nap rooms? Naps aren't just for children. Catching a 20-minute power nap on your lunch hour is proven to improve morale and productivity. Google has sleep pods at their offices for this precise reason. My idea is to replace one boardroom in every office building with a nap room featuring capsule hotel-style sleeping pods that employees can book or drop in to see if there's an opening when they're feeling a little drowsy come lunch hour.

I realize that not all physical spaces can be tailored to suit the preferences of all individuals. Some people like offices with doors, while others prefer open concept offices or bustling coffee shops, while others (like me) are actually rather fond of cubicles.

Maru knows that working in a box is where it's at.

Sitting in a cubicle, I feel like a bee happily camped in its own private hexagon in the honeycomb. I am content with the much-maligned cubicle (even when I worked in a cube that was basically a storage closet) because when I worked in an office with a big desk and a door, I felt very isolated. But when I worked in an open-concept office, I sometimes found the environment distracting. I like the cubicle because it offers a compromise. I'm an extrovert and I find feeling the presence of other individuals — the clatter of fingers on keyboards and the snippets of conversations in hallways — very invigorating and oddly comforting. And when I don't want to listen to the muted bubbling of lifenoise, I can throw on some headphones.

But I also recognize that not everyone feels this way, and with good reason.

Cubicle farms are sometimes located in buildings with poor ventilation and other health hazards. But for the time being I'm going to focus on what I think cubicle farms should look like. I think that the cultural perceptions of cubicles have both informed and influenced the way we react emotionally to them and to how they are built. Films — from The Matrix to Office Space — portray the endless rows of cubicles as suffocating and soul-crushing labyrinths. And I think this is both encouraged by and contributes to the all-too-common problem of office depression.

With winter approaching and Seasonal Affective Disorder symptoms looming on the horizon for many people, I think we should start sharing tips for how we can adapt our environments in order to maximize morale and productivity.

Let's assume that you are not like me and that you find cubicles stifling. And let's assume that you don't have the option to work elsewhere. (But maybe you do?) What can we do to improve them? I really enjoyed this article about boosting productivity with stylish cubicle decor: making your cube your own instead of tacking up a family portrait as if you're in prison or something.

Personalization is obviously of the utmost importance, in addition to colour (grey rooms have been shown to stress people out). Check out this interior design blog for more tips.

So go ahead: pimp your cube! Need inspiration? Check out these 15 crazy examples.