Microsoft’s new meeting spaces promote “creativity, focus and happiness.”
MicrosoftMicrosoft employees may soon be working on Word in the woods.
The company’s blog on Thursday revealed three tree house meeting spaces created by builder Pete Nelson from the TV show “Treehouse Masters.”
The meeting spaces include two enclosed areas along with an elevated area named the Crow’s Nest, which the company said will let employees sign onto work from the great outdoors.
Why the fuss to create these spots? According to a YouTube video showing off the workspace, it’s to embrace a philosophy of nature improving “creativity, focus and happiness.”
Yet the tree houses do omit AV systems and climate control — so any PowerPoint presentations will have to stick to more traditional offices on the Redmond, Washington-based campus.
Tech companies seem to be vying with each for the wildest new office concepts for their employees, with Microsoft’s tree house just the latest. Apple‘s “spaceship campus” opened this year; Amazon has proposed a biosphere concept for its offices; and Facebook plans to expand its existing campus in Menlo Park, California to include a “village” of 1,500 apartments.
