The 20 best office spaces we've ever seen

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  • Ride the wave

    Ride the wave

    Office space matters -- the right office space, especially. Research links smart, innovative-looking office spaces to worker productivity and happiness.

    Here are 20 offices that make us happy just looking at them. Collectively, they are triumphs of design, tech, and sustainability. (If we missed any office eye candy, including yours, let us know in comments.)

    Our first exhibit: The Barbarian Group.

    The star attraction at this creative agency's Manhattan office is the 1,100-foot-long "superdesk." The twisty, turny workstation is made of fiberboard and capable of accommodating up to 170 people.

    Photo by: The Barbarian Group via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Cloud DCS

    Cloud DCS

    This ultra-futuristic tech industrial park in China features an oval-shaped meeting room that looks out onto the data center. Blues were selected as the accent color "to capture the idea of flying through the sky, like when you look outside the window of an airplane," architect Alberto Puchetti of Arboit Ltd. told Azure magazine.

    Photo by: Arboit Limited via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Zebra Technologies, San Jose

    Zebra Technologies, San Jose

    The global company's Silicon Valley location specializes in sports-related tracking technology. As such, it needed "a sweaty sports area, a techy computer area, and a comfortable place to witness it all," per NicholsBooth Architects, which managed to produce all that, and in only about 4,000 square feet.

    You can see the half-court basketball court, just beyond the workspace windows.

    Photo by: Nicholsbooth Architects via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • GE Malaysia

    GE Malaysia

    The reception area of the digital-industrial giant's seven-floor Kuala Lumpur headquarters is as futuristic as it is functional, featuring two network operation centers, meeting rooms and an integrated touch-screen video wall comprised of nine 46-inch LCD sets.

    Photo by: Steven Leach Group via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Capital One Labs, San Francisco

    Capital One Labs, San Francisco

    According to the design studio that set up the company's tech incubator in the Bay Area, Capital One Labs "wanted their space to reflect the wide-open spirit of their team." The 3,500-square-foot office comes replete with a sleeping nook.

    Photo by: Studio O+A via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Microsoft, Building 83

    Microsoft, Building 83

    Built in 2015, the four-story, 313,790-square-foot atrium-style space on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, features glass conference rooms, workspace balconies, an espresso bar and -- get this -- a sound art piece that plays an evolving musical composition based on weather data.

    Photo by: Bora Architects via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • "House F Vienna"

    "House F Vienna"

    The USS Enterprise has nothing on this Austrian home office, whose owner is said to have a thing for Mac computer design and Lamborghinis. The firm that did the work (and dubbed the project "House F Vienna") attributes the "spaceship feel" to acrylic polymer floors and walls decorated with CG graphics.

    Photo by: Najjar & Najjar Architects via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Cisco Meraki

    Cisco Meraki

    Colors, floor-to-ceiling windows and a dedication to the principle that "no workstation [should be] far from a comfortable place" are among the draws at the headquarters of this cloud-controlled Wi-Fi, routing and security company.

    Photo by: Studio O + A (o_plus_a) via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Coterie Worklounge

    Coterie Worklounge

    This Seattle-based, co-working office space, aimed at corporate professionals, and available for monthly or daily memberships, believes that techies shouldn't have all the cool things. To that end, the grownups who hang here get to enjoy a cafe and a bar.

    Photo by: B+H Architechts via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • The Edge

    The Edge

    This approximately 430,000-square-foot office structure in Amsterdam is billed as the world's most sustainable building. Its 6,000 low-energy LED lights are only activated when necessary; workers self-regulate the light and temperature of their offices via an app. Currently, the building's main tenant is the tax and consulting firm Deloitte.

    Photo by: Ronald Tilleman via OVG Real Estate

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • CBRE Masonic Temple

    CBRE Masonic Temple

    There's a lot of open space, but no assigned offices or work stations at the Los Angeles-area headquarters for CRBE. The commercial real-estate company is the main tenant of this 25,000-square-foot space that was grafted onto the bones of a structure originally built in the 1920s.

    Photo by: Gensler via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Sandbox Industries

    Sandbox Industries

    This 18,000-square-foot space for the Chicago venture-capital firm, completed in 2015, uses glass conference-room walls to encourage a free flow of ideas. Not bad for an old cold-storage building.

    Photo by: Horn Design via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • ​Dragonplay, Israel

    ​Dragonplay, Israel

    The mobile and social casino-game company's office outside Tel Aviv hits the jackpot with 16,145-square-feet of ample collaboration space and pop-art-detailed work areas for up to 100 engineers.

    Photo by: Gindi Studio via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Philip Morris Sabanci Sales and Marketing

    Philip Morris Sabanci Sales and Marketing

    Common areas with space-age-looking design touches distinguish this approximately 13,000-square-foot, three-story sales and marketing office for the tobacco company's Istanbul base.

    Photo by: mimaristudio via Instagram

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Rompharm

    Rompharm

    Mirrored glass, ceramic-granite flooring and mod orange chairs give a "Mad Men"-meets-the-space-age vibe to this pharmaceutical company in Moscow. The lighting fixture in the reception area was designed to resemble molecules straight out of the outfit's labs.

    Photo by: Geometrix Design via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • UN World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator

    UN World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator

    This 5,400-square-foot start-up hub in Munich was designed to spur community and collaboration among the World Food Programme staff and tech entrepreneurs.

    Photo by: INpuls via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Alibaba, San Francisco

    Alibaba, San Francisco

    The Chinese e-commerce corporation's Bay Area office re-imagines the 26th floor of a 1925 Art Deco classic as a sleek tech office with exposed ceilings, glass partitions and brick.

    Photo by: Studio O+A via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Centre for International Governance Innovation

    Centre for International Governance Innovation

    Floor-to-ceiling windows make a wonky, but not-stodgy, policy think tank in Ontario highly transparent. Literally. The 115,000-square-foot campus has won multiple design awards for reinventing the traditional academic quad building.

    Photo by: KPMB Architects via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Conclusion

    Conclusion

    This Danish IT company moved into these digs in Heerlen, Netherlands, in 2016. Glass, wood and concrete combine to offer contrast.

    Photo by: DZAP via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

  • Publicis Worldwide

    Publicis Worldwide

    This ad-and-publicity firm brings a West Coast vibe to New York City with an open layout and no-assigned-office ethos. The eight-story, 190,000-square-foot space is located near Times Square.

    Photo by: Clive Wilkinson Architects via Facebook

    Caption by: Joal Ryan

1 of 20

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Ride the wave

Office space matters -- the right office space, especially. Research links smart, innovative-looking office spaces to worker productivity and happiness.

Here are 20 offices that make us happy just looking at them. Collectively, they are triumphs of design, tech, and sustainability. (If we missed any office eye candy, including yours, let us know in comments.)

Our first exhibit: The Barbarian Group.

The star attraction at this creative agency's Manhattan office is the 1,100-foot-long "superdesk." The twisty, turny workstation is made of fiberboard and capable of accommodating up to 170 people.

Caption by: Joal Ryan

1 of 20

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