Pixar Names Main Studio Building For Steve Jobs 71
Hugh Pickens writes "Jordan Kahn reports that the main building on Pixar's campus has been named in memory of Steve Jobs who actually played a big role in designing the building itself as CEO of Pixar. Pixar's campus design originally separated different employee disciplines into different buildings – one for computer scientists, another for animators, and a third building for everybody else. But according to Jobs' recent biography, the headquarters was to be a place that 'promoted encounters and unplanned collaborations.' Because Jobs was fanatic about unplanned collaborations, he envisioned a campus where these encounters could take place, and his design included a great atrium space that acts as a central hub for the campus. 'Steve's theory worked from day one,' says John Lasseter, Pixar's chief creative officer. 'I've never seen a building that promoted collaboration and creativity as well as this one.'"
Man. All the Steve Jobs love. (Score:1, Insightful)
Can you smell the necrophilia?
Seriously, the guy had a big impact on how people use computing.
Great. Fine. Wonderful.
He also loaded us down with a bunch of unpleasant paradigms too.
He wasn't a saint.
He wasn't a savior.
He wasn't some eternally wise and all knowing father figure.
He was a human being just like the rest of us.
And according to many, he was an abrasive asshole unless you basically subsumed yourself to his "vision" and sucked up.
Get on with your lives for chrissakes.
Doesn't matter (Score:3, Insightful)
Second chances (Score:5, Insightful)
At first I thought to myself "I bet it's as ugly as that hideous boat" but after looking at the pictures of the inside and out, it is a very well done building that no doubt has seen a lot of success (Pixar, in case no one was keeping track, has a record of successful moviemaking completely untouchable by any other studio).
This article is worth a read (plus the extra info linked therein), if for no other reason than the fact that so many offices in the US are hideously designed, constructed, and laid out but there is some sort of unwritten rule of corporate management at a lot of companies to the effect of "the uglier the better". This is hindering the evolution of work in the US, and ultimately hindering growth. Steve Jobs deserves credit for at least seeing the right way to do this.
Re:Man. All the Steve Jobs love. (Score:5, Insightful)
Collaboration, yes, AND Concentration! (Score:4, Insightful)
The article suggests that ad hoc collaboration was important for their success.
Not especially noted, though, and far more important in my mind, is that workers had their own "huts" where they could customize their work space to their liking and which provided isolation from distractions. This, to my mind, facilitates concentration.
There are times when I want to bounce a problem off someone and get a fresh perspective. More frequently, though, I just want a few hours without interruption or distraction. A 2-minute question from a coworker can require me to take 20-30 minutes to get back into the zone and get my mind back around all the details that I am trying to sort out.
Providing separate spaces for concentration and for collaboration is the key.
Re:Architecture as a Pattern Language (Score:3, Insightful)
I was about to say, the idea of designing buildings for collaboration is a fairly old one as such things go. I remember reading about it back in the early/mid 90's.
But, Jobs' reality distortion field persists after his death... and now the idea will be embedded in the 'nets culture as Steve's.