I know that the way a building is designed, influences on communication, collaboration and other social activities like drinking coffee together. Being close to co-workers makes it easier to discuss something or exchange information. I noticed this myself when the company I worked for moved from one building to another. Suddenly I had to take effort to look for people to chat instead of meeting them by coincidence (yes, at the coffee machine).
In the old situation, the floor I was on had a long corridor, with small offices. I was on one side of the corridor and the coffee machines were on the other end. Since all office doors were always open, I knew right away who was there, said goodbye or sometimes we started to talk. It was easy to meet people who worked on the same floor, but not so much people on the other floors (only at lunch time, in the canteen).
In the new situation, each floor has four wings: North, East, South and West. In the center are elevators, but the doors to the wings are closed, partly due to office climate management. The coffee machine is in the beginning of one of the wings. It looks very nice, this new building. Employees have large offices, there are spaces to discuss. But I notice that I only see the (few) people in my wing. The chance of walking into someone has become much slimmer! Yes there is the coffee machine, still there are only few people there. I feel that if I want to talk to someone that I haven't seen for a while, I have to go to his/her office on purpose. Most people love the new building, but I miss the un-planned chats.
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