Design | Working the work space

Working the work space: Introverts are naturally more comfortable toiling alone, she said, so they will cope by

MARTHA Choe's ideal working space is not her private office - nice though it is - but rather, it's a long, narrow table in the vast atrium of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle. The table, situated in a 33-foot-high open mezzanine, enjoys great swaths of daylight through the atrium's quarter-acre of glass, and has a stunning view of the Space Needle three blocks away. It's not private, or quiet, but Choe has everything she needs stuffed into her laptop, and she finds the space inspirational. She points out one further attraction: "That's Nelson Mandela's shirt on the wall behind the table." Choe, a former member of Seattle's city council, is the foundation's chief administrative officer, and she had considerable input in the building's design. One objective from the start was to give the 1,000 employees a variety of spaces to accommodate different ...

Full article: http://www.todayonline.com/Design/EDC120319-0000010/Worki...