The current fashion for the modern office is still the open-plan layout. But with the price of downtown office real estate in some cities, this is not elegantly achievable in office blocks where floors have a narrow footprint.
One solution would be an architectural design where two complete walls on each floor are comprised of a mirror canted at a 45 degree angles, relative to the floor above or below. One wall would be angled 'upward' toward an opposing mirror on the floor above, while the wall/mirror at the other end of the office would be angled 'down' toward an opposing mirror on the floor below. This would create a periscopic effect for the entire office block, such that it would be possible for workers to 'see' every single floor, in the horizontal plane, appearing one after the other. Audio feeds completing the illusion of a multi-storey open plan layout would be optional.
The building's strength would need to come from interior pillars rather than wall rigidity for obvious reasons. Waist-height barriers would also be needed to prevent people from wandering into the wall/mirrors...
(PS. I know this idea is similar to the "Office Periscope" already in the halfbakery (I was amazed to find a similar idea at all!); however, this is an architectural feature rather than a device - and one designed to allow all workers to see every floor at once, not just a selected floor.)-- Adze, Apr 24 2005 Neat +-- FarmerJohn, Apr 24 2005 Hah! I really like this idea.-- bristolz, Apr 29 2005 Very cool. Just please not an endless sea of cubicles though. And, how would you be able to look out the window too? (Everyone wants a window office, eh?)-- sophocles, Apr 30 2005 [sophocles] Aha - that's why only two walls are mirrors. :)-- Adze, Apr 30 2005 So, when you enter the building you'd see a vast floor area stretching out in front of you, with the people working on the top floor appearing to be at the back of this vast space? If so, a very clever idea. I'd enjoy using my laser pointer to point to things on the top floor.-- hippo, Apr 30 2005 (+) The force is strong with this one.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 30 2005 The fact that every other floor would apear to be upside down would make things interesting.....
but maybe you could avoid this effect by using two curved mirrors. rather then straight ones.-- RBStimers, May 01 2005 An astute observation [RBS], I hadn't considered that problem.
I thought of a floor-mounted 'plus lens' as an alternative fix to counter that effect , but I like your curved mirror solution better (so long as they could be configured to eliminate distortion).-- Adze, May 01 2005 Having two highly productive people is redundant, shirley? Government, for instance, runs with less than one.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 01 2016 Cool idea. +-- doctorremulac3, May 01 2016 random, halfbakery