An ongoing challenge in office building management is leasing suites with no windows. Downtown buildings with common walls to adjacent buildings typically have street view windows, but the interior offices have no exterior windows. Below-grade suites suffer the same problem. Forget the allure of the corner office with the master-of-the-universe view, just hope the lights work when you’re showing the prospective tenant the space.
Common work-arounds include reception areas with glass walls to the corridor, designing the interior work area with perimeter offices with glass half-walls, liberal use of artwork and and interior-scapes.
However, as any office-manager will tell you, suites with no outside view can affect staff morale, and the business owner will use the perception to negotiate the rental rate. The landlord is often predisposed to accept the offer, knowing from experience the lack of windows hurts the appeal.
Enter Winscape, the technological solution to the fluorescent-soaked cube farm. The video below will make you go “wow”. I sent this to a good friend, Eric at Capital Thinking, , and he emailed me back a one-sentence comment, “I want one.”
This is a work-in-progress. Rational Craft, developed and sells the software it calls Winscape, to run the screens. The user supplies the plasma displays and a Mac computer to run the program. Total costs are estimated to be about $2500-$3000. Their website has several videos documenting some of the installation challenges (e.g. portrait/landscape orientation, cables, heat, etc.).
We’ve got several suites in our inventory that could use this, and we’re contemplating the added marketing exposure that may be generated with a well-placed press release.