[mmcconnell1618]

I think the best arrangement is private offices / cubes surrounding a central team area where more interaction can occur. Pixar had a really cool idea where Steve Jobs put all of the bathrooms on one side of the building in a central area so people were forced to bump into each other spontaneously throughout the day but only when they were already interrupted.

[porker]

This sounds like a great idea, but only ~25% of the 'bumping into each other' could lead to a conversation in this situation...

Only when A & B are both coming out of the bathroom can interaction occur. Otherwise, A is desperate and dashing in, B is wishing she'd not had that curry last night, or both A & B are desperate and not stopping for anyone ;)

[Goladus]

Pixar had a really cool idea put all of the bathrooms on one side of the building

I'd be interested to know how much they saved on plumbing costs. That seems to me like an architectural decision driven by financial concerns and sold as a benefit. Not that it isn't a benefit, many of the most interesting designs are a consequence of some practical constraint.

[stephencanon]

Apparently you haven't seen the Pixar buildings; it's pretty clear that little of their design was guided by financial constraints. They are about as far as it's possible to get away from typical cheap office construction.

[Goladus]

There are always financial concerns. Just because you have a huge budget doesn't mean you don't min-max where possible.

[bmj]

Or perhaps, the two concerns met in the middle? "How do we achieve $design_feature while perhaps saving a bit budget?"

[Goladus]

Exactly.

[maxgaudin]

I like the cube idea better than just an open desk layout. Seems to work well for SpaceX.

[jusben1369]

Really? Most people go to the bathroom once or twice a day. The chances of you timing that to coincide with someone else for whom it's beneficial that you start to spontaneously chat seems kind of low. To put it another way if Steve thought it was important to have that I suspect he would have found a different mechanism that the one above.

[canvia]

You should drink more water if you're only using the restroom once or twice in a typical work day.

[doktrin]

> To put it another way if Steve thought it was important to have that I suspect he would have found a different mechanism that the one above.

Maybe, but that particular mechanism was implemented. It actually received some negative feedback from a pregnant woman who felt she was forced to walk an undue amount to the bathroom.

The point of the parent was that the Pixar offices are designed around encouraging unplanned team member interaction. Their leadership believe this is crucial to encouraging creativity.