Consider the cubicle. It's easy: just swivel 360° in your imitation Aeron chair. Ponder the various surfaces decorated with stacks of memos and coffee rings. Meditate on the file cabinets underfoot, the shelves overhead, the glow of the fluorescent reading light. Reflect upon the three walls papered with Post-it notes and your kid's macaroni art. It's hideous, but it's home.
Now say goodbye. A new generation of work-space design promises to tear down those padded walls. Office architects are envisioning improved cubicles-- newbicles?--that feel private yet collegial, personal yet interchangeable, smaller yet somehow more spacious. Employing advanced materials, tomorrow's technology and the...