I think the term ”cube farm” is a hilarious description of those workplaces full of partitioned cubicles. Cube farms are often found in large corporations and create a certain culture that is parodied in shows like the Office and comics like Dilbert. Taking inspiration from Dilbert, IDEO designed “Dilbert’s Ultimate Cubicle”. The prototype addresses real workplace issues such as lack of space, little personal control and false sense of privacy. With a great sense of humour, the resulting modular design offers workers a range of custom components to personalize their space. They included components such as lighting effects, fake grass flooring, an aquarium, a punching bag, and even a hammock.
Typical of many design professions, my workplace has a very open plan layout and in fact no one has an office - but personally I wouldn’t mind working in an IDEO designed cube.
This is brilliant! Just forwarded round the office because we have a bit of a cube arrangement out the back. Some of these features could go so far to really improving the state of mind of office workers, especially the colours, and the realistic sun movements. Or maybe it should just replicate the weather outside regardless of what it is. I always feel like I’m missing out on being close to a storm when I’m not near a window.
‘Your cube will love you’…it’s kind of sad that the general attitude about office work in the US is that nobody in your office cares about you. Or is it like that here too, but I’m in a better industry? I’m sure that on the whole, people would feel a level of appreciation. But maybe I’m naive, and a shuddering bin is actually necessary