On the third floor of IBM's Research Triangle Park executive briefing center, over a walkway, you'll find the "forest."
At least that's the vibe that Bruce Sargent, the RTP-based director of North America real estate operations for IBM, hopes you'll get from the newest "agile" workspace, complete with 500 work stations, a handful of giant bean-bag chairs and a vertical moss wall.
"It's an outdoor North Carolina theme," Sargent explains.
And for IBM, it's a new way to force collaboration. Fran O'Sullivan, IBM's RTP site lead who recently announced retirement plans, says it's working – calling it the initiative she's "most proud of" during her tenure.
The new space, which welcomed its first employees in February, brings IBM's total agile space in RTP to more than 250,000 square feet.
For this installment, Sargent took "things we liked" from other campuses, but also added completely new elements, such as soundproofed, privacy compartments and a break room with two double refrigerators. It's the third agile implementation for Sargent, who oversaw the floor's transformation from static, white-walled cubicles to steel framing to what it is today.