At CBRE’s new headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, employees do not have assigned desks and can set up a workstation wherever they choose. Legal assistant Nicholas Watson likes to drop anchor at the hand-carved, 18-feet-long wooden table in the kitchen. It’s a pleasant space that provides chance interactions. 
“Ordinarily, you wouldn’t be encouraged to mingle with people,” he said. “You get to learn more about other departments in an informal way and I can have impromptu, informal meetings with my boss. It really has become sort of a favorite spot.”
Law firm Morrison & Foerster had the same goal in its downtown L.A. office, where it created a space big enough for 80 people that was dubbed the “loungebrary” for its combined function as lounge and library.
The kitchen and lunch room are separated by a large sliding door from the library, which includes banquettes and other casual seating areas.
“But what if the kitchen were also a place where you could work?” I was on board with the lux kitchen concept until I read the above. A clever and surreptitious maneuver by corporate folks to erode personal time away from their employees (and themselves). Pretty soon spa like…
“It’s worked out just like we wanted it to,” said Gregory Koltun, managing partner at the firm. The space can be used for company meetings and social events such as wine tastings, but is more often simply a place to eat, work or hang out a bit.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Companies recast office break room as collaborative workspace – LA Times.
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