ate culture. The president and CEO of the agency was Adelaide Horton, and she had worked in other offices where change was made and had an understanding of the limits of the virtual office environment. The desire was for the new office to be open and egalitarian but at the same time to provide a fixed address for every worker. No one, including the CEO, would be given an enclosed domain.
Therefore, the design of this office was to bring the workers together not just physically but psychologically. What was needed was a very large space, and that is what was acquired, covering an entire city block and encompassing 95,000 square feet in the Met Life building on Madison Avenue. This space included a maze of columns, varied ceiling heights, and dim interior spaces, and the new office had to fit into this existing area. De Menil had to fit the employees into this large space and at the same time make those employees feel that they are a part of a community. De Menil also approached his task with the view that information is the main commodity of the office culture today. He saw the office as a form of "information village" and unfolded his plan around a large central "town square" area with several circulation routes to provide for the sort of chance meetings that occur on the street.
Spatial divisions are suggested by means of double-layered Lexan screens that swivel or slid
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