“We used to have 25 percent open space and 75 percent office space,’’ said Goose, one of the few Digitas employees with an office and a door, adding that now, the numbers are flipped.
“Corporate culture in general benefits from open space: This is where team bonding happens,’’ said Goose, speaking in Digitas’s stunning eight-floor space in the sky.
Each floor is painted a different color to stoke imagination, and each has two lounge areas where writers working on a campaign for a client such as Samsung or Buick can meet.
One of the more popular spots is the mobile lounge, where the latest advances in marketing, such as augmented reality apps and shopping reward games, are on display for employees to demo. “The physical interaction makes it real,’’ said Sherri Kaufmann, vice president and group creative director at Digitas. “This is what customers are doing right now, and that sparks new thinking for our clients.’’
Some companies do less with the space and more with the furnishings. At the online travel service TripAdvisor in Newton, employees raised one side of their desks to a standing position, to promote better health. “The second that you sit down, you stop burning calories. Our bodies are created to move,’’ said Amanda Johnson, a TripAdvisor public relations specialist.
Photographs of a beautiful coastal village in Italy and urban landscapes cover the walls at TripAdvisor, reminding employees in Newton that they are working for a global company. “I like to see all the flags in our cafeteria from around the world,’’ said Johnson.
The travel motif is echoed in the collaborative lounges, each evoking a destination. In the rustic retreat, tables are made of clear cubes filled with hay. A mural of a wheat field sweeps across the wall.
Another area is tricked out like a bamboo forest.
“It’s good to get away from walls,’’ said Gisele Mast, senior product manager. “We are in a better mood as we are creating the ideas.’’
