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How architect Clive Wilkinson helped Google ditch cubicles and embrace glass

How architect Clive Wilkinson helped Google ditch cubicles and embrace glass

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Architect Clive Wilkinson had to convince Google that cubicles were bad for business. "Cubicles are the worst — like chicken farming," says Wilkinson. "They are humiliating, disenfranchising and isolating."

"Cubicles are the worst — like chicken farming."

The renowned architect spent a few minutes recently with Dezeen, where he revealed details about how he helped convert Google from "cubicle land" to the modern Googleplex we know today, a world-famous headquarters filled with glass rooms, slides, and hardwood staircases. After Google, Wilkinson worked on the offices of Macquarie in Sydney (pictured above), an even more avant-garde design that looks more like Yotel than your average office. "One of the biggest motivators for creating good workspaces is being attractive to people you want to hire," says Wilkinson. He hopes that dynamic, bright, and open office spaces will de-incentivize today's workers from working from home.

"The amount of information that's conveyed by looking people in the face and seeing their body language and seeing their eyes in person, hearing the tone of their voice and the subtleties of the communication, is enormous," he says. Check out the entire interview over at Dezeen.