What do you do with a room that’s a triangle? Two office buildings in LA pose that very question. With a narrow glass point on every floor, that’s 99 triangles of awesome views and sky-high rents. It’s no surprise how many turn into conference rooms. And it’s fun to help their occupants wrestle with out-of-the-box design challenges. Where’s the front of the room? What shape should our table be? How do we cut glare and reflections?
Picture two triangles, with glass on two sides and wall on the third. Law firm L pulled their conference rooms away from the windows in a dramatic, free-standing stack. Everything you need – food, a screen, equipment – is organized along the solid wall. A triangle table gives most people views of the screen when it’s needed. Law firm C took a 180 degree view, placing their videoconference system at the point. Two screens flank the column like butterfly wings, with a camera at the center. The room shape follows the cone of the camera’s view, leaving a glare-free wall as a backdrop. Their rectangular table leaves plenty of room to enter, and grab a snack, at the back of the room.
Would you purposely make a room a triangle, if you had a choice? Feng shui theories say it’s not good qi; a rectangle is far more conducive to peace and calm. So, you have to ask yourself, what would I do in that room? When you want to sleep or meditate, no triangles! When you want to calm an upset Client or nudge a colleague, no triangles! When you want to provoke new ideas from your team, maybe three walls are just right.
Next time you’re feeling adventuresome, you might take a cue from the folks at Cap Gemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment. Find a few tables, chairs, whiteboards, and walls on wheels. Shake things up and move things around. Try a square. Try a circle. And try a triangle. Let me know how it goes. I think you might enjoy a little three-sided thinking.
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Can the space where you live or work make you more creative? In the book Creativity: flow and the psychology of discovery and invention, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes four ways to improve our creative abilities. We can live in a region where people and institutions attract specialized knowledge. We can work in a space that’s comfortable and personal. We can practice routines that let us master our schedule. And we can visit inspiring places where subconscious thoughts transform into new ideas.
Csikszentmihalyi teaches positive psychology at Claremont Graduate University, poised 60 minutes from the desert, the mountains, the ocean, and Los Angeles. His book caused me to reflect on one of the area’s many luminaries: my late friend Sam Maloof, the master woodworker. Sam’s home and workshop embodied every element of creative space-making.
Sam never attended the Claremont Colleges, but living close by helped shape his life. After World War II he apprenticed to Claremont painter and educator Millard Sheets. The college also drew Sam’s wife Freda, who came to study art. The Alta Loma house they built grew from an old chicken coop in a lemon grove, to a hand-crafted jewel box. Sam worked next door in his shop, building furniture and teaching classes. As his fame grew Sam traveled widely, and the world traveled to him.
I met Sam in 1989; he was 73, in the prime of his 50-year career. Sam was crafting the tables and lecterns for a CEO suite, and my firm was trying to respectfully fit electronics inside them. We visited Sam and Freda’s home far more than we really needed to, captivated by their hospitality and inspired by their surroundings. Twenty years later I can vividly see the irises and wisteria in the garden; the pottery, glass and textiles in the upstairs gallery; and the growing stack of rocking chair orders nailed to Sam’s shop wall.
As Csikszentmihalyi might say, Sam was creative with a capital C. How much did Sam’s talent shape his environment; and how much did that environment nurture his creativity? Though Sam’s gone, you can still pay a visit to his home and decide for yourself. I promise your creative mind will be inspired.
Tags: creativity, csikszentmihalyi, sam maloof
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When’s the last time you took a walk while you took a meeting? Nothing makes my day like a meeting request with let’s walk in the location box. A few years ago Sue Parks, WalkStyles founder, invited some business friends to a walking group. I met Missy, the banker; Shirley, the investment wizard; and Dawn, the leadership coach. Today we resist normal business meetings. We’d rather walk.
Walking side-by-side breaks most of my collaboration rules: making eye contact, controlling distractions, engaging the senses, creating a tangible product. Maybe matching strides substitutes for meeting eyes. Maybe more blood in your brain and air in your lungs help you ignore distractions. Maybe chalk and a sidewalk are as good as a whiteboard, once your PDA snaps a picture. Somehow it works for two people, but what about six? Do you walk two by two, and rotate every ten minutes? You do. It might not suit a board meeting, but it’s great for creative thinking.
Europe meets in the street much more than America. The reason may be partly cultural, but I think it’s mostly footwear. They know how to look elegant in comfortable shoes. When I worked on a project with Conde’ Nast, creative director Gary couldn’t wait to harass me, every time I changed my “ladylike” pumps to ugly flats to tromp across Manhattan. (Think The Devil Wears Prada.) I finally discovered ankle boots as my walk-ready city shoes.
If you walk, you might as well wear a pedometer. You can buy a simple clip-on counter for under $10.00. I like the WalkStyles DashTrak, which also downloads to the web. Nike’s iPod sports kit lets you put a sensor in your shoe (which is much less likely to fall in the toilet.) All tell you if you’re close to that healthy 10,000-step daily goal.
Good dialogue. Good shoes. Good exercise. Could working together be any more fun?
Check out Sue’s pedometers: www.walkstyles.com
Tags: dialogue, walking
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What do you do with a room that’s a triangle? Two office buildings in LA pose that very question. With a narrow glass point on every floor, that’s 99 triangles of awesome views and sky-high rents. It’s no surprise how many turn into conference rooms. And it’s fun to help their occupants wrestle with out-of-the-box design challenges. Where’s the front of the room? What shape should our table be? How do we cut glare and reflections?