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Whimsy spurs creativity at Google Zurich
12:22 PM CDT on Tuesday, May 6, 2008
ZURICH, Switzerland — It's the first question Google employees here must resolve when they want to go to the cafeteria or game room: Stairs, slide or fireman's pole?
The next dilemma for so-called Zooglers: homemade pastry or exotic fruit juice? It's all part of three free meals a day, with regular snacks, that Google serves at its new European tech center.
Then there's the phone call dilemma. Should you use a former ski gondola that has been converted into a private phone booth? Shut yourself inside a blue igloo or giant purple egg? Put the call on a video monitor? Or just take it outside and walk along a rushing Alpine river?
If you want to tap into the maximum creativity of everyone you hire, Google figures it might just take a whimsical mishmash of colors, shapes, textures, nooks and crannies to do so.
"To be effective in a short innovation cycle, you cannot just be sitting at your desk," explained Matthias Graf, the company spokesman in Zurich.
That explains the pinball, foosball and pool tables, the Wii sports center, the air guitar video game, the massage tables and the aquarium water lounge. Or the cafe next to the technical center where you can eat, chat, read and play video games while you wait for your computer to be fixed.
Yet this is not dot-com deja vu, when Internet companies wasted gobs of money on outlandish toys before burning through all their cash and firing everyone. The Internet giant worked with a psychologist and design team to interview all 350 employees and incorporated their ideas into a new workspace — yet insisted the new design should not cost more than an ordinary office building.
"Everyone says 'Google is wealthy, you can buy a fancy office.' But we wanted to show what anyone could do with some imagination," Graf said.
The result: Simple, neutral but small individual workspaces with lots of natural light are interspersed with stimulating, brightly colored, wildly original communal spaces. The lack of private offices allowed Google to create vast amounts of communal space — more than 100 different meeting rooms for anywhere from 2 to 200 people.
"It feels good to be here, it feels comfortable," Swiss engineer Patrik Reali said as he took a break to play Star Trek pinball. "There's nice places to retreat and hide if you need to think."
Each floor has a different color and theme. The 5th floor is the history floor, with an old-time library, heavy velvet curtains and overstuffed, second hand chairs. The 4th is the green environment floor, complete with a terrace for eating outdoors. Switzerland is the theme of the third floor, with reinvented gondolas, carpets that look like snow or blue ice and a quirky stuffed penguin mascot.
"Companies often spend a lot of money on expensive things — furniture, lights — that employees don't really care about," said Stefan Camenzind, founder of the architectural and design firm Camenzind Evolution Ltd, which created the Zurich office. "Google was smart to focus on what matters to employees."
Google's design choices both break the mold and reinforce current office trends in the United States. According to research by Jones Lang LaSalle, a global office property management firm, companies are building more open-demand meeting rooms and ditching hierarchical corner offices in favor of floor plans that foster teamwork — just like Google.
Yet many U.S. companies are also trying to save money by cutting down total office space and creating anonymous temporary spots for nomadic employees, Jones Lang LaSalle reports. Google, meanwhile, is trying harder than ever to cluster its people together, make the experience personal and leave room to grow.
"It's so unique and different — I think even people in Mountain View are envious of this building," said Roshan Sembacuttiaratchy, a 31-year old engineer from Sri Lanka, referring to Google's California headquarters. "Everyone had a say in what went in. You felt like you were kept in the loop."
The new center — Google's largest engineering site outside the United States — is flexible enough to accommodate up to 800 employees. And Google has no qualms about the number of play areas in the new building, which formally opened in March.
"We have a strict performance management system — they will not play all day, we don't worry about that," Graf said.
The only issue the company hasn't solved is the Google 7 — the number of pounds Graf said employees gain from Google's fabulous food and heavy work ethic. Others begged to differ.
"I think it's the Google 15 — seven is too low," said Sembacuttiaratchy.
"No, it's the Google 15 kilos (33 lbs)!" Reali laughed. "Time to get on those bikes."
And those would be the fully loaded Google touring bikes the company handed out on Earth Day last year, to encourage employees to ride to work.
"Freedom makes people happy," Reali said. "The work we do, the people we meet, the building we work in — it all adds up."
With companies more worried about layoffs than office design, how can you inject some life into your workplace without spending much money?
Here are seven suggestions from architect and designer Stefan Camenzind, the founder of Camenzind Evolution Ltd., which created Google's innovative new office in Zurich:
INVOLVE THE STAFF
Don't assume you know what people in your office want — ask them, not a management committee, Camenzind says. Find their personality types and let changes flow from there. "Too many designers look for image and not emotion," he says. "You need to be open and not have your suggestions already set."
GIVE WORKERS MORE FREEDOM
Camenzind believes too many offices focus on a slick, uniform corporate design that leaves workers feeling like drones. "I call it the gorgeous but dead look — beautifully designed furniture that is missing life and soul," he said. Don't be afraid to let employees move the furniture around, put up their own posters, make the place more comfy. Being rigid is a sure way to turn them off, he advises.
GIVE SOUL TO COMMUNAL AREAS
It's OK to be a little crazy design-wise in the cafeteria, the break rooms, the bathrooms. "Don't go for average," Camenzind said. "You need to create an atmosphere that is not corporate and cold."
DON'T BE AFRAID OF A LITTLE PAINT
Never underestimate the impact of clean, fresh color — preferably bold — because a shabby-looking office is a big downer for worker productivity and morale. "Paint makes a huge difference," Camenzind says. "It's very easy to change the character of a room in no time."
NEVER FORGET THE COFFEE
Office social life is all about the coffee. "Spend money on a fantastic coffee machine instead of a fantastic sofa," he advises. People will appreciate that several times a day, every day of the week and feel proud when they can offer really good coffee to guests.
BRING ON THE PLANTS
Employees have five senses — it's time to appeal to them all. "Take a room, fill it up with plants, add a tape with some birdsongs — none of that is expensive." Camenzind said. A common area that looks beautiful, smells great and sounds soothing has far more impact than one plant each for 100 private offices.
SPEND MONEY ON A KEY HIGHLIGHT
In a 10,000-square-foot office, regular items like carpet, furniture and chairs can really rack up the costs. But does anyone notice? No, says Camenzind. He prefers to pay less for regular items so he can spend some money instead on a signature item or two that everyone can appreciate.
That can be a fabulous window view, quirky lounge furniture, a flat-screen TV or pool table in the break room. "Highlights make a difference," he says. "If you want to keep good staff, it's not just food and money. You need to do more."
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