| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : NOVEMBER 6, 2000 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| FRONTIER -- WORKPLACE
An Avant-Garde Sandbox BodyMedia Inc. Pittsburgh EMPLOYEES: 40 WHAT IT DOES: Makes wearable health-monitoring devices GOAL: To create a cutting-edge and flexible workspace COST: $225,000 There are cubicles, and then there are cubicles. At BodyMedia Inc.'s 4,000-square-foot headquarters, there's nothing Dilbert-esque about the office partitions, which are formed by stretching sheer Lycra fabric sail-like between the desks. When figures move behind the cloth, they are seen as silhouettes. A bit avant garde, perhaps, but they provide just the right sort of image and design flexibility for techy BodyMedia. The company, founded originally as Sandbox Advanced Development by four classmates at Carnegie Mellon University, has raised $8 million to make wearable health-monitoring devices that are used with Web-based software to keep track of heart rate, sleeping patterns, and other bodily functions. The partners wanted their space to promote collaboration yet provide some privacy. Also important: impressing potential investors and recruits alike. ''Space can be a terrific marketing tool, as far as showing off some real Boy Scout ingenuity, and making you look successful even though you're still young,'' says Pittsburgh architect Gerard Damiani, who refurbished BodyMedia's offices for $25 a square foot. Based on the 10th and 12th floors of an 80-year-old hotel, the space evokes the city's industrial past, with exposed beams, heating ducts, and plumbing. In a nod to the New Economy, a Ping-Pong table sits next to the CEO's office, and there's a giant sandbox, a playful reference to the company's origins. For a flexible work area, the partners opted to put most furniture on wheels. Desks can be rolled together for impromptu meetings; walls, which double as pin-up boards, reconfigure to create instant conference rooms. ''We like to encourage the serendipitous exchange of ideas,'' says co-founder Chris Pacione. Even if it does mean your neighbor can see a shadowy version of you, dozing off behind the Lycra. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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