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it looks like a university/college library nook :)

just a quick thanks for all you guys put out there, it is inspiring after all the pessimissm(sp?) that others seem intent on propagating on a minute by minute basis.

Your shades suck.

Nice office, would be great to see other perspectives of the office

Some nice screen real estate on display, that’s what I like to see!

Looks a nice place to be :)

Looks nice and peaceful.

I second “college library nook” – looks nice, peaceful and productive. Love the wooden floors. What’s outside the windows?

Nice chairs. I’m actually trying to find something for work where I can sit straight. I recognize the Aeron chairs, but what are those green ones in the back?

Also any other chair recommendations would be nice..

I love the white Apple screens. Very stylish! I am on a white MacBook right now. =)

Dream company

This is my favorite time to get work done. I’d prefer to come in on a day like this, and take off on a busy day :) I work from home, but escaping to a quiet office and getting out of the house really boosts the productivity.

neat office, thanks for sharing.

Are those are 23” or 30” displays. Also surprised there aren’t any multi-display set-ups (hardware limitations or conscious decision?).

I like the desks with the shelf underneath to hide the crap. Where did you get them or did you make them?

@Gaurav Sharma: Those are 23” displays. 30” are much larger.

Gaurav Sharma: I believe, from the Apple Pro video, 37signals use laptops — so hardware limitation.

It looks like you’re in an older/historic building (the brick walls, exposed wood ceiling, etc). I find that it helps us out alot creatively to work within a work of art.

Our offices are in a 1905 Beaux Arts; and the building itself breeds inspiration.

I was talking to a headmaster, and he told me that there is a lot of evidence that children (and people of all ages) are much more creative in spaces that are intrinsically beautiful and have detail. They learn to look at more things, and be more critical and creative, because those areas of the brain are activated from a young age.

Looks an awful lot like the Coudal offices…

OH RIGHT . ;)

Sigh. Makes me want to escape the gray cube farm even more. I continue to surprise myself with what I’ll put up with while working for the greater good (curing cancer).

So you sub-lease space from Coudal? How do you handle limiting the interruptions to your work?

For touting your frugality, $6,0000+ in desks seems expensive.

Your office looks a little bit like a school! :)

What sort of lighting you guys have on the ceiling? I can see that the huge windows would give you great natural light on a bright day, but how do you go at night/on cloudy days? Do you have downlights, or flourescent tubes?

I really like your setup; though, I think I’d agree with @Observer in that your “shades suck” – they’re very plain and look a little dirty! I’d personally replace them with venetian blinds in a shade to match the floorboards.

That you manage to stay away from big company logos, posters & other such “motivational” material is a good sign though – I’ve always found those things tacky.

So umm, why did you show us a picture of your office? and why is everyone so positive about a picture of an organised office, have you never seen one before?

There are heaps of decent offices around the place, what is special about this one?

Perhaps all property agents need to do to sell space these days is stick a huge white Apple LCD on a Blonde wood desk in an old building with exposed pipes. SOLD to the bidder with the largest screen!!!!!

I’m either hugely envious of your offices or can’t see the point of your post?

Are you guys still sharing an office with a design/media company?

There are heaps of decent offices around the place, what is special about this one?

Jebus. Relax.

Yes, it’s just an office, which looks a lot like a lot of open space type offices (presumably with all the good and bad that entails—how do you guys handle phone calls?).

If people want to analyze it to death, what skin is it off your nose?

Edmundito,

We use the Human Scale Freedom chair at our office and love them.

http://www.cellspin.net/user/b4c51afc21/post/39527/

The contrast of the volume, quality, and creativity of the products that are generated by 37S in their offices as compared to the output of FogCreek, who have also recently posted their (new) offices (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/12/29.html and pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/spolsky/FogCreekSNewOffice#) is interesting. The relative staff sizes are also interesting.

Try as I might, I just don’t see how twenty-five “rock star” programmers working in a million dollar “bionic office” designed to give the developer the most productive possible environment can only create a bug tracker. I’m also surprised that a bug tracker can support that level of staff and offices too, so either there’s more going on there than is public or my perception is off.

Either way, interesting contrast in offices, business styles, and philosophies.

@Matt and @Observer,

LOL – we actually have some of my mum’s old Sari’s hung on our windows as shades. Looks a bit agricultural, but beautiful.

All in all though, window shades are not there to improve productivity. They are just there to keep the sun glare out, and frankly whether it is an off white sheet, or a Rembrandt painting doesn’t really make a difference I think! :)

“Either way, interesting contrast in offices…”

Per JF, “Most of us work at home most of the time.”

If anything, the work environments – where they actually do the work – are similar: private.

Would love a photo of the view out of the window?

What I’d give to work there someday!

These offices look a lot like my living room—where I do most of my creative work now. Filtered daylight always looks good when it stretches across a wooden floor.

Perhaps it is just me, but what a strange topic this is. I wonder if a picture of the trashcan 37s uses would also generate so many comments. Strange.

A lot of people are just inherently interested in the environments of others—particularly the environments of people whose work they admire.

Hence, sites like Apartment Therapy, Flickr galleries full of random work spaces, and the occasional article on how a writer organizes her space. Such interests are perfectly healthy and may relay some useful information about how to improve one’s own creative or working environment.

Lots of light. Lots of room. At least three plants, possibly more.

Very nice.

“Perhaps it is just me…”

It is.

A clean desk is the sign of a cluttered mind.

Still waiting for the picture showing how they organize the content of their trashcan…

Don’t be a tool Kevin. They use Backpack of course.

Look nice, but what about the acoustics?

For those of you wondering what’s outside the window, meet Google Street View.

What keyboards are those? Icekeys?

So is your office basically paperless, or are your employees that organized? Seems like every cube and office at my company has stacks of paper, folders, etc. I’m hoping that due to the nature of your work and the tools at your disposal that you’re essentially paperless, but I wanted to doublecheck.

Looks like a web-based company that revolves around computers…and only computers. Oh and day light (very important!) ;)

If you’re really going to spend on desks, you might consider going a little bigger. I have about as much desk space as all four of these stations put together.

Sorry for the repeat furniture hangups, but I’m curious what the side chairs are you have. (With the curved metal bases)

Lovely. Simple and elegant, just like the 37s applications.

If you all like to work from home most of the time, then why is this “The office on a quiet Sunday morning”? Shouldn’t it be “The office on a regular busy workday”? ;-)