NYT on Apple's research space
APPLE COMPUTER INC. had a problem: Its computer designers wouldn’t come to work. Unable to concentrate in the typical modern office — small cubicles in large, wide-open rooms — many simply stayed home to do technical work.
Instead of open cubicles, the building is defined by clusters of private offices for teams of 10 to 12 workers. Apple’s planners tried to provide for individual team identities by creating numerous common areas planned and furnished by the teams themselves. In typical Apple-speak, the areas are called U.D.A.’s, or “user definable areas.” They can function as places for meeting, eating — or even, in the round-the-clock world of Silicon Valley, sleeping.
Michael Brill and BOST pops up again in this one - no surprise.
