The custom-built server room is the most influential and popular aspect of the environment I created for digital designers at Citrix. But it's not just any ordinary server room. It was expressly built to power creativity.
The server is visible from behind a secure window, but due to the nature of this custom machine, the door remains locked and accessible only by a keypad-entered secret code known only by the design team.
Visitors are invited to enter this server room to experience its creative generating power only under the strict agreement that we can not be held responsible for physical injury, disorientation, or euphoria caused by this machine. Only at this point will a designer enter the password into the keyboard of this enormous, wall-sized machine replete with vintage computer tape reels and blinking lights to "fire it up." As they do, the wall supporting the keyboard and monitor gives way, becoming a door to an environment unlike anything our visitors have experienced throughout their tour of our sunlit workspace. As the portal closes behind them, they find themselves in a room that stimulates and supports right-hemisphere brain activity. From the Moroccan-themed lanterns, red embossed walls, impressive tin ceiling, handcrafted floor-to-ceiling dark wood panels, and bookshelves filled with mementos and curious objects to the fragrance that at once smells a cross between ancient tobacco and exotic coffee to the sound of crickets one eventually notices, this place is timeless and disorientating—precisely the environment prescribed to induce right brain creative thought. Lanterns and industrial sconces light the room without any natural light. There is nothing in this room to indicate the passing of time, another hallmark of right brain activity timelessness. A mini fridge is hidden in the space to dispense unique sodas and beer. There are curious objects, including a 1940 Bakelite television that has a switch atop it giving you the choice of "yesterday or today" (yesterday supplies an endless loop of 1940 movies, today switches to a closed circuit view of the locked door to see who's trying to gain access). There's the large glass jar of little monkeys. Guests are encouraged to take a little monkey as they leave (after they sign the server room log book) to remind them to have fun! I noticed that these little monkeys are also serving a second purpose. As visitors return to offices within other parts of Citrix, they display them. Other past visitors to the server room see those little critters and an unspoken bond is created with a wink toward the monkey. Just like in the movie Fight Club, the first rule is…
My absolute first rule is to know your staff and anticipate what your designers need to be successful. As they are charged with delighting customers, my charge is to delight them.
