Apple Park and Severance

The indispensable Michael Tsai has an interesting post up today about Apple Park and whether its design isolates the people who work there, despite its having been designed—in part, at least—to encourage collaboration. As usual, Michael has collected a group of choice quotes on the topic. I won’t link to any of them. You should just go to his blog, read the excerpts he’s assembled, and follow the links to see more. But I’ve often wondered how good Apple Park is as a working environment, especially when I watch Severance. As you may know, the Lumon Industries building that Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan work in is a former Bell Labs facility in Holmdel, New Jersey. I first learned about the building several years ago, when I read Jon Gertner’s excellent history of The Labs, The Idea Factory. It’s a distinctive place designed by Eero Saarinen in the early 60s. Image from GameRant. Bell Labs was known for the fruitful collaboration of its researchers, often started through chance…