8 ms·
37 Signals' New office (pics and video)
- davidw 16y agoLooks nice, but it's still in Chicago - no thanks :-)
- antidaily 16y agoOk, Spolsky.
- davidw 16y agoI'd say the same thing about New York. Places matter a lot to me, and I couldn't handle living and working somewhere that far from the mountains, and with that kind of climate, no matter how nice the office is.
- brandnewlow 16y agoI couldn't imagine living somewhere so far from a massive freshwater lake with beautiful beaches. To each his own!
- clistctrl 16y agoI never understood this mentality. Why do all the "Cool" companies have to live on the coast? It bothers me that I have to live 2000 miles away from my family if I want a great job. The Midwest has many appealing features.
- davidw 16y agoI live over 9000km from my family because I wound up somewhere I liked. It's not on the coast and it has nothing to do with companies. Everyone has different priorities, I'm just expressing mine. BTW, in the US, Boulder seems to have some 'cool' companies, and is pretty far from the coast itself.
- sabat 16y agoPlease help me understand what those appealing features are. I am not being snarky. My wife is currently trying to get me to consider moving back there because everything is cheaper. Sure, it's cheaper: it is, as far as I am currently concerned, a less desirable place to live. Being from California, I'm clearly snobbish. So seriously, what am I missing about the Chicagoland area? Keep in mind: I'm used to nice weather, beautiful and varied natural environment, and a distinctive culture. And thin people.
- chrisduesing 16y agoIt really depends on what you are looking for, and all of the points you made are true. However, Chicago has some great things going for it IF you like living IN the city. Chicago's winters are brutal, but the rest of the year is gorgeous. Chicago overall has much better weather than San Fran, though much worse than the rest of the Bay Area. If you want to raise a family, while living in the city, it is both doable and affordable here. Areas like Wicker Park and Lakeview have pretty tree lined streets, brick 3-flats, amazing restraunts, coffee shops, record stores etc etc. The bars are amazing, good music venues, oh and you will never have to get behind the wheel drunk because you cannot walk 5 feet without seeing a cab for hire. There are great artist and developer communities here, as well as a budding startup scene. I am not saying you should rush out of San Fran for Chicago, but if you are considering moving here you should give it serious consideration. One caveat, for the love of god don't move to the suburbs. They are filled with mid-westerners. scary.
- dugmartin 16y agoReal people. Real hot dogs. Deep dish pizza. Awesome neighborhood festivals. Great architecture. And of course, the Cubs.
- davidw 16y agoIn terms of things I don't like about California that might be better elsewhere: * "Real people" as someone said below. People can be kind of fake and superficial in certain parts of California. * People in it for the long haul: so many people in places like the Bay Area are not planning to stay there. Indeed, unless you make a lot of money, it can be pretty difficult to stay there if you want things like a family. In any case, people are constantly coming and going, so you tend to be a little bit more guarded/less committed in your dealings with people, whereas elsewhere, people stick around a bit more, so you can get to know them with less fear that they'll be leaving soon.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- sachinag 16y ago@MayorEmanuel would like to have a word with you.
- maheshs 16y agoCongratulations to Jason Fried & David Hansson for new good looking office.
- maheshs 16y agowhy down vote. Should i take my congratulations back.
- ekanes 16y agoYou were most likely downvoted because people don't want threads filling up with a bunch of "congrats!" type comments, which are admittedly friendly but don't really add anything to the conversation. Even though one or two might not seem like too many, "none" is a simpler heuristic than "how many are there? Ok, we have enough, downvote any new ones..."
- jasonfried 16y agoThanks much!
- mrduncan 16y agoLooks amazing, just watch out for the "curse of a new building". http://steveblank.com/2009/05/15/supermac-war-story-11-the-curse-of-a-new-building/ http://steveblank.com/2009/05/15/supermac-war-story-11-the-c...
- acangiano 16y agoIs there anything that Steve hasn't written about? :)
- antidaily 16y agoGreat textures going on. Like the space a lot.
- Keyframe 16y agoI've seen this link of inventionland offices today: http://www.officesnapshots.com/2010/09/29/inventionland-offices/ http://www.officesnapshots.com/2010/09/29/inventionland-offi... - looks even better than pixar's animators booths.
- lovskogen 16y agoBetter? How could you stay sane in that environment?
- Keyframe 16y agoWhy couldn't you?
- lovskogen 16y agoIt's so far-fetched and fake that I'd end up dressing like Willy Wonka and try hiring midgets to do my work.
- Keyframe 16y agoHah, fair enough! Pixar seems to be doing a fine job in an environment similar to that one though. Probably depends on the job you're doing too. I couldn't imagine walking into a bank that has clerks on a pirate ship... or maybe I could.
- salemh 16y agoMostly a promotional tool to continue its mostly shoddy Invention Services packages. This "office" is geared towards its consumers, not as a functional work space. http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&rlz=1W1ADRA_en&q=davison+inventions+lawsuit+2010&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&rlz=1W1ADRA_en&fp=6b964bcc94c5a63 http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&rlz=1W1ADRA...
- allwein 16y agoI work in the same office park as Inventionland. Every time I drive by it I wonder what they do in there. Now I kinda want to go take a tour.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- hop 16y agoMy dream office would be a Swiss chalet at the foot of a mountain. Multiple giant roaring fireplaces going 24/7. Ski in ski out. Girls in Bavarian outfits serving Oktoberfest beer and food. Backbone Internet speeds. 27" iMacs all around with matte screens and SSD's. Treadmill desks. Weightroom, sauna, soaking tub, raquetball, basketball court, full time Swedish masseuse. Banksy tags outside. Old masters and some crazy art from some tag artist friends inside. A Newfoundland that hangs out. No conference rooms. Giant whiteboards that slide up and down like they had in college. Sound proof meditation room. Those Red leather chairs they use on stage at allthingsD. Aston Martin fleet. Ridiculous gun room. Huge bbq, smoker on the rooftop. Taco truck outside. Automated laundry service. Machine shop with 5 axis CNC machines and 3d printers. I don't know where that came from... seams prudent.
- arethuza 16y agoMaybe this place has office space? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schilthorn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schilthorn
- cullenking 16y agoWhy it took you two hours to get an upvote is beyond me! revolving restaurant on top of a mountain?
- amackera 16y agoHave you considered a career as a James Bond antagonist?
- hop 16y agoYes but we will antagonize out of touch, established companies with sharks fitted with lasers while making better software/hardware. And have perennially dominating Formula 1 team.
- andymism 16y agoYou can actually do better by selling software and hardware infrastructure to other evil geniuses working to antagonized (er... disrupt) established companies.
- moe 16y agoI guess I'm in the minority but that office doesn't look attractive to me at all. It left a dark, cold and sterile impression on me...
- brown9-2 16y agoI'm amazed/impressed at just how much open space they seem to have in the office.
- jasonfried 16y agoMost of the offices I've been in feel cramped to me. Most tech companies are especially cramped with people sitting right next to one another all day long. I'm not a fan of that arrangement. One of the ideas behind our space was plenty of space for everyone to move around. No one should ever feel cramped while they're working. Feeling cramped is a form of stress - this is meant to be as stress-free a space as possible.
- cryptoz 16y agoI agree. It's very big and cold looking, super uncomfortable.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- mikeryan 16y agoI think it will warm up with more people and personalization. Its an attractive office but yes a bit sterile. It still needs to be broken in a bit. (I like it - but see your point)
- Luc 16y agoIt looks like a lot of offices I've seen, with some nice unique touches added. Bene of Austria design a lot of offices in this style (well, to my eye anyway, that's what it reminded me of): http://bene.com/office-furniture/office-projects/ http://bene.com/office-furniture/office-projects/ Here's Microsoft Belgium: http://bene.com/office-furniture/microsoft-belgium.html http://bene.com/office-furniture/microsoft-belgium.html
- run4yourlives 16y agoSeems like it would be "loud" to me. While I think it looks awesome, the fact that they have a room for the phone means that it probably echoes a good deal with that roof. I'm a bit of a Spolsky-ite when it comes to office space - everyone should have an office - so it isn't my dream layout, but I will say the design is very, very cool.
- sstephenson 16y agoIt's actually very quiet in person. The space reminds me of a university library. Most of the materials, from the carpet, to the felt paneling, to the corkboard in the team rooms, to the dividers between desks, to the tiles on the rear walls, were chosen specifically for their sound-dampening qualities. The phone booths are a reaction to our former space where we'd get up and go out into the hallway to take phone calls. They exist because we value privacy, not because the office is too loud.
- run4yourlives 16y agoCool, thanks for the additional info.
- philwelch 16y agoNot just a separate room for a phone, but something that looks like a mountain shack on the outside and an interrogation room on the inside. Are they trying to actively discourage phone calls?
- joe_bleau 16y agoThat was my exact thought on seeing the lunchroom. Hard surfaces all around, or did I miss something?
- Maro 16y agoI really like the clean industrial style of the new offices.
- snorkel 16y agoThe 37 signals worship here is a tad bit annoying.
- mcfunley 16y agoI am biased but this looks insufferably sterile compared to where I work: http://tycole.blogspot.com/2010/05/etsy-office-in-dumbo-hangar-design.html http://tycole.blogspot.com/2010/05/etsy-office-in-dumbo-hang...
- duck 16y agoEsty's office space looks sweet, but how do they keep that place clean? Even in normal offices I am always surprised how must dust collects everywhere and that is with cleaners coming in every day... can't imagine anyone ever dusting a giant owl.
- mcfunley 16y agoIt is a bit of a mystery to me, too, but it's clean. Equal parts office managers, people pitching in, a custodian every night, and my dachshund patrolling the ground for remnants of food.
- edw519 16y agoKudos to Jason for giving nice referrals (with links!) to his vendors. I wish we'd see more of this. [Aside: Is that DHH having a snack at the stainless steel table, and was he really working or just surfing Hacker News?]
- jasonfried 16y agoI'll be writing up a post about what it was like working with each vendor as well. Not sure when I'll get around to it, but I'm looking forward to sharing the experience.
- bretthellman 16y agoGorgeous!
- mhartl 16y agoMaybe update the story title? The company name is "37signals", not "37 Signals". (Some people consider the distinction pedantic, but I'm a pedant.)
- neovive 16y agoVery nice. This office seems to fit their philosophy very well -- clean and simple without excess distractions. I wonder if they studied existing research on the effects of workspace on productivity and creativity. Perhaps, this will start a new trend in office design for SaaS companies.
- huhtenberg 16y ago"Very nice, very nice. How much?" Seriously, very curious of a ballpark figure for the renovation.
- jasonfried 16y agoA bit over a million total for everything including furniture.
- huhtenberg 16y agoThanks. Money well spent it seems :)
- points 16y agoSterile, pretentious, cold. As expected :/
- jasonfried 16y agoCome by sometime and you'll see its none of those things.
- swah 16y agoOn the end of the video, the guy is using an iMac right beside a huge window. No way this would work.
- jasonfried 16y agoIt's real, it works. It's a north facing bank of windows - no direct sun.
- pkaler 16y agoI love the textures. I also love the contrast of the wood and concrete. It also looks very well lit. The first thought that came to mind was that this is the type of office space that Howard Roark would architect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Architectural_theme http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Architectural_...
- krobertson 16y agoI like all the small conference rooms. Would love to have a ton of small rooms. Not for meetings, but when we want to pair/talk something out, often go somewhere where we wouldn't disrupt others. Plus easier for video/phone conferencing with someone remote. Small room, few chairs, phone, table, and a whiteboard. Plenty of markers and erasers, since those always get stolen.