Year: 2011

Green denotes harmony, blue inspires innovation and bright orange promotes creativity- especially if you ask the bright orange coloured news corporation Bloomberg.

In terms of design the London Bloomberg office probably tops many of its rivals; almost entirely made out of glass, filled with enormous fish tanks, bright coloured lights and meeting rooms without walls or door. All done in the name of transparency, creativity and sustainable performance.

Michael Bloomberg’s idea is pretty clear; the sales floor is green floor to ceiling inspires harmony, the research floor is blue to conjure innovation Bloomberg’s own brand colour, bright orange, acts as a  source of creativity and is on everything from lifts to coffee cups in the cafeteria.

Bloomberg is big on sustainability: the meeting area tables and chairs are made from recycled monitors and keyboards. The office even employs its own marine biologist to look after the aquariums housing over 4,000 species of fish!

Bloomberg, London

Lord’s Cricket Ground is widely referred to as the “home of cricket” and is home to the world’s oldest sporting museum. The Lord’s Media Centre is a building at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London which has been awarded the “Best Press Box View” by the Professional Cricketers’ Association.

The centre stands 15 metres above the ground and its sole support comes from the structure around its two lift shafts – it is approximately the same height as the Pavilion directly opposite it on the other side of the ground. The lower tier of the centre provides accommodation for over 100 journalists and the top tier has radio and television commentary boxes. The Building was awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in 1999.

Originally sponsored by NatWest, in 2007 sponsorship was taken over by Investec. Since 31 May 2011, the media centre has been sponsored by J.P Morgan.

Lord’s Cricket Ground

At The Serviced Office Company we love gadgets and are always on the look-out for ones that will brighten up your day in the office. Here’s our favourite music themed desktop accessory this month.

Drumstick pencils

There’s a person in every office who thinks they’re a drumming rock god. They’ll usually illustrate this by tapping out rhythms using a pair of pens. If you are that desk-bound drummer, splash out on a pair of dedicated pencils for your inner Ringo.

The Googleplex is the corporate headquarters complex of Google. What’s not to like about this place!

Staff can move from floor to floor via a slide…there are also poles available, similar to the ones used in fire stations.

Staff can eat and drink from a vast choice of food three times a day for free, pool tables and video games are available in many areas and employees can work out in one of two high current “swim-in-place” pools under the watchful eye of a lifeguard.

For relaxing, employees can chill out in soundproofed stress capsule rooms, get subsidised massages or use the massage chair room with a view of aquariums. On each floor, there are private miniature ski cabins where employees can attend to personal affairs.

They must get some work done as well! To ensure maximum creativity, large white boards are available just about everywhere to capture any ideas that are generated away from the desk.

Staff can move from floor to floor via a slide

Rongbuk Valley and the Rongbuk Glacier are located in the Himalaya of southern Tibet. Climbing expeditions and trekking parties use this glacier to reach the Advanced Base Camp of Mount Everest at the upper end of the East Rongbuk Glacier. From there, climbing expeditions try to summit Everest by the North Col and the northeast ridge.
At 17,000 feet the Rongbuk Valley post office is claimed to be the world’s highest located post office. It opens at 11am every day from April to August and costs 3 Yuan (£0.28) to send a letter to Beijing and 9 Yuan (£0.85) to send a letter to England.

Rongbuk Valley post office, Mt Everest base camp

At The Serviced Office Company we love gadgets and are always on the look-out for ones that will brighten up your day in the office. Here are two of our favourite animal themed desktop accessories this month.

Desktop aquarium

They don’t require allergy shots, expensive pet sitters, or diamond-studded collars. Desktop fish are the perfect pets and will always be there to entertain you, even if you forget to feed them for months on end! Following the popularity of virtual pets, this desktop aquarium will be a fun addition to the workplace. It also makes a great gift for animal lovers!

Desktop Aquarium

Doggy Bank

The best office kitty solution we’ve seen!
These silly Hungry Hound Doggy Banks bring a whole new meaning to putting your money where your mouth is. More accurately, if you put your money where their mouth is, they’ll gobble it all up and keep it safe for you until you need it.

Their lolloping tongues and bouncy nature are quite charming, so much so that you’ll want to keep on feeding them until you run out of shrapnel.

All you have to do is drop a coin in the dog’s dinner bowl and watch him hungrily devour it. It will end up in the box upon which the Hungry Hound happily hunches, ready for you to take out again if you need it.

Saving money never tasted so good.

Doggy Bank

Pixar has created some of the world’s most beloved animated films of the last decade. From their Emeryville campus, not far from San Francisco in California, Pixar is a company in the film business; but first and foremost they are in the business of imagination. Their office has been designed to nourish and develop creative talent, with standard cubicles banished in favour of garden sheds, a games room and best of all, a cereal room. As the name implies, it features a variety of cereals, peanut butter, milk flavours and other breakfast treat. Best of all, it’s all free!

Working at Pixar surely doesn’t seem like a normal office job- could you sit in a tiny office and come up with the likes of Toy Story and Finding Nemo?

Office of the month: Pixar, Emeryville, California

Every child’s dream destination! Santa Claus’s Office is located inside the main building of the Santa Claus Village, where he is available for photos and meeting visitors. However, there is an “office hour” for Santa to out impending Christmas business so he may not be in the office at all times during Village opening hours.

The Arctic Circle cuts right through Santa’s village; a white line denoting the Arctic Circle is painted across the park. Also boasting his very own post office, the Santa Claus post office offers a large variety of Christmas related items, Christmas cards and CDs. All mail sent from this post office is postmarked with a special Santa Claus postmark.

It’s Christmas all year here!

Santa Claus’ Office, Rovaniemi, Finland

At The Serviced Office Company we love gadgets and are always on the look-out for ones that will brighten up your day in the office. Here are two of our favourite kitschy desktop accessories this month.

Desktop Henry Hoover

Henry; an icon of domesticated life now comes in a handy desktop size! Cleaning up lunchtime crumbs with a smile, Henry miniature is an essential desktop gadget for the biscuit fiend in your office.

Origami Stick Note Pad

Be it a boat or a bird; get rid of your used memos in style with the origami sticky note pad. Filled with 100 sticky notes each with instructions of how to make an origami shape, this little pad will give hours of entertainment as well as providing a useful way to jot down messages.