Culture: Office Games
connect four!   (+4, -4)  [vote for, against]
stack cubicles and build team efforts

this is a rather unique idea, I'll grant you that, but hear me out. I think that it would be quite a good idea to create a vertical workspace wherein enlarged personal cubes (smaller offices/larger, better cubicles) can be "plugged in at any level into any space. with the tech we have today there is no problem with them having some sort of multifunctional ports in their rear which could plug in wherever they are docked. the frames of these cubes would be some sort of durable steel which would be able to hold enough strain to allow for some sort of arm to grab and move the cubes. however, the cube will be set up in such a way that the back wall will be of the same material as the frame, the front lifts up (ala one piece garage door) for access, but the two other stationary sides as well as the front will be made primarily of glass. this glass will be the type whose unstable molecules allow the glass to look solid or clear. whenever a meeting is planned for a group, rather than meeting in one room, their cubes will be placed in a special horizontal docking station where their wall will all be made clear and they will therefore be able to sit in a meeting-type environment while remaining in their own offices. communication would be maintained through phone sync up. Now, the best part is. when working on different projects with different teams it always helps to build some sort of team dynamic. one way of doing this is to say that if a team is able to get to work on time and stack their cubes in some sort of consecutive order (i.e. straight up and down, side to side, or diagonally) they get some sort of reward for their accomplishment. alright, so that last paragraph was a bit much but still, kind of interesting eh? people as stackable commodities. I like it.

I would like to also state that while Drcurry's idea has been brought to my attention I do believe that this is a far simpler means to the necessary ends of inter-office setups. I think he takes it a step too far when expressing the "whisked away to the bathroom or to get coffee" . I know we like to sit down, but still, I have no intention of staying in my cube ALL DAY! there is always something to be said about an office that will not follow you to the bathroom.

thanks everyone for your input. I am going to try and come up with some sketches and link to them. we'll see how far it goes.
-- leex, Oct 21 2002

Cubicle Elevator http://www.halfbake.../Cubicle_20Elevator
DrCurry's take (also compared to the film 'Cube') [st3f, Oct 22 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Plug-and-play modular cubicles... the world will never be the same.
-- RayfordSteele, Oct 22 2002


This reminds me of the film 'Cube'. Long story/short... many rooms all cubic were connected to each other. Most of which were booby trapped. Nearly everyone dies in it. I like this idea better.
-- Jinbish, Oct 22 2002


//this is a rather unique idea//

I'm not so sure about that. Is there anything that sunstantially distinguishes it from DrCurry's Cubicle Elevator (linked)?
-- st3f, Oct 22 2002


This one time I hired a monkey to take notes for me in class, and it came up with this idea where you stack cubicles and arrange them in different ways to allow for communication without movementation.

I could see microsoft doing this. I wouldn't put it past them to booby trap different cubicles, to preemptively "fire" workers. Saves work on the middle-management level, huh? Ok, in all seriousness, here is what I think:

Interesting idea, but how would it look? I can't get the image out of my head of some monstrous warehouse where these cubicles lie, and are arranged by some giant iron machine that would give children like me nightmares.

Also, does it need to exist? :)

So, in a nutshell: my main concerns are its asthetic and its necessity for existance.
-- zenwins, Oct 22 2002


If you have a module which is high up in the stack, would there be rolling ladders to access these cubicles? Almost everyone who works in an office is morbidly obese, and so would dislike the climb. Also, there would need to be some sort of guard so people with wheeled chairs did not accidentally wheel themselves backwards and plunge over the edge.

I think this idea could be accomplished with dividers, preferably covered with beige carpet, that could be slid around the giant room to divide up the room as needed.
-- bungston, Oct 22 2002



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