I think another factor has been the university-campus or "research lab" type of aesthetic that companies have cultivated for engineering, especially the more pr

I think another factor has been the university-campus or "research lab" type of aesthetic that companies have cultivated for engineering, especially the more prestigious parts of their engineering organization. For example the old Amoco had its clerical, business, and "regular" engineering workers in the Chicago loop [1], but the PhDs in the research division were on a separate campus, with lakes and stuff, out in Naperville [2]. I think things like the Bell Labs [3] and IBM TJ Watson [4] style of "campus" have also influenced companies like Google, who idolize the environment/culture of those research centers. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aon_Center_%28Chicago%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aon_Center_%28Chicago%29 [2] http://grummanbutkus.com/assets/uploads/projects/232/bpamoco500__standard.jpg http://grummanbutkus.com/assets/uploads/projects/232/bpamoco... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs_Holmdel_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs_Holmdel_Complex [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Watson_Research_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Watson_Research_Cent...