An office is a vital part of any business. A business’ front to the world, it can motive your employees, and show off just how well your profession is doing. We take a look at the best offices from around the world, and how they represent themselves in the public eye.
Apple’s Spaceship Campus
Apple is the king of cool, and the tech team has pretty much become synonymous with innovation. They have been at the forefront of pretty much every electronic revolution that has happened in the past ten years (smart phone, tablets, etc) so it’s only right that they have an epic office to go with the legend.
Apple have recently started planning their new headquarters, which would be more at home in a Ridley Scott movie than in a Californian forest. The new Apple campus is completely self-sustaining, and it can house at least 14,000 employees. It is going to be colossal, with a circumference of nearly a mile, and it looks like a giant spaceship.
Google’s Googleplex
A serious contender for the Cool crown, Google have always done their own thing and it has paid off massively. Their office space is called Mountain View and, like Apple, the HQ is also based in California. Employees have been stationed there since 2006, at the building they call the Googleplex. The workplace is obviously an extremely busy environment, with over 35,000 people employed by Google worldwide. Their office space is a flurry of busy activities, unheard of technology and brand new creative innovation.
They utilise solar power, encourage employees to drive electric cars which they charge on site for free, have a large organic garden that a lot of the produce for the cafeteria is grown in and also have a lot of bikes on hand for people to use. Google are all about being eco-friendly, and the building only uses sustainably harvested wood. There are nineteen restaurants, and you are allowed to bring your dogs to the office.
There are rooftop Endless Pools for employees to take a relaxing swim, provide three free gourmet meals a day for their employees and there is even a place to get a lunchtime haircut or massage.
Bahnhof AB’s Converted Bomb Shelter
Now the Google and Apple offices may be impressive buildings, but how about having a mountainside as your office walls? French designers Albert France Lanord Architects used an old atomic bomb shelter and transformed it into one of the most spectacular offices in the world. 4,000 square foot of pure mountain.
With the architects crediting Bond villain’s lairs and the sci-fi movie “Silent Running”, the feel of this office is an extremely surreal one. Imagine commuting to work underground, in a cold war era bunker that is positioned thirty meters below a Swedish mountain.
As an organisation, Bahnhof AB suits its villainous HQ. They were the original host of the extremely controversial Wikileaks website, and have worked side by side with Julian Assange. The use of glass and metal, coupled with the feeling of being assimilated into nature, means that the office has the odd feel of being from the future.
Microsoft’s Redmond Campus
Less impressive than those previously mentioned but still quite exciting. The additional office gadgets are what really caught our eye with this one. Microsoft HQ has holographic screens, a huge library and a selection of completely soundproof meeting rooms.
The sprawling nature of this huge complex is an eye opener to anyone that visits. It’s impressive, complicated and amazing. Even people who were there on a daily basis are said to still get lost on occasion. A shuttle bus is needed for long distances across the complex.
Microsoft couple futuristic designs and colours with a mass of nature and plant life to create a fun environment that also reminds us of our connection to the world around us.
Inventionland
They have different themes for throughout the building, sixteen in all, like a treehouse, a pirate ship and for their meetings they sit at a big, round table straight out of King Arthur. Inventionland in Pennsylvania is the place where every kid wants to work when they grow up.
The company makes new inventions and ideas into a reality so it is only fitting that they themselves work in what is essentially a giant toy box. The use of bright, primary colours and pure imagination means that this office space truly does look like something straight out of Willy Wonka, and the employees absolutely love it. Thinking outside of the box, with an extreme amount of creativity, Inventionland have created an office space that will go down in history as one of the most inventive, ever.
Disney’s Headquarters
You would expect the world’s most famous children’s film company to have one exciting HQ and Disney don’t disappoint. The head office of the Disney Store is not your average space. Instead of plain cubicle walls there are honeycomb-shaped shelves that double of storage space, with lots of bright colours and interactive building blocks that you can move anywhere in the building. The office also has very high ceilings that are made from real wood, to give a real feeling of open space and helps with the building’s rustic feel.
It might very well be impossible for your business to achieve an office in a mountainside or with a rooftop pool, like some of the company’s mentioned here. There are ways to renovate the office without breaking the bank, with some of Planscape’s state-of-the-art office furniture, from elegant reception desks and chic office chairs to traditional, vintage looking tables. The right fixtures can make a big difference to your working environment.
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