Microsoft made a headline-grabbing announcement in 2006 when it revealed a $1 billion plan to expand the footprint of its Redmond campus by roughly 30 percent in just three years. The construction challenge of developing nine buildings (and a 5,000-car parking lot) and making them as environmentally friendly as possible was formidable. But an equally significant challenge was designing the buildings' interiors to reflect how employees collaborate, use space and leverage technology. The complexity of the task could make even the wisest office designer's head spin like an old Aeron chair.

When Building 99 opened in November, the first building to open in the company's western campus expansion, Microsoft provided a first look at the shape of new office design to come. The building's interior is the result of a threeyear effort to research workers' space needs under Martha Clarkson, Microsoft's in-house design guru. Clarkson runs the company's workplace "lab" - an internal showroom showcasing prototypes of office spaces available to different corporate teams. Clarkson says her lab displays a "kit of parts" - a series of modular office space designs that can be strategically deployed and periodically reorganized to suit work teams' evolving needs.

"We didn't want to have 100 different designs out there," Clarkson says of her lab's corporate function. "This was really just to expose people [to options]."

LIGHT AND HOMEY TOUCHES

Building 99 displays how a single large work group - Microsoft's research team - is using dozens of new design trends modeled in Microsoft's lab. The four-floor atrium entry has a glass roof that lets in light, exposed staircases that link floors, and a balcony on each floor allowing enough peep-over viewing so the entire staff can gather along balconies and on the lobby floor for companywide meetings or to watch presentations from giant drop-down screens. Smaller conference spaces line the atrium on each floor, their glass windows letting in natural light.

Elsewhere throughout the building, old fluorescent lights have been replaced with multiple sources of illumination: Halls are wider and lined with nonfluorescent lights, and enclosed as well as open spaces offer a variety of lighting types - including contemporary ceiling lamps and motion-sensing lights that save energy. Under-floor cabling for telecommunications, broadband and electricity allows workers flexibility for frequent intraoffice moves with minimal set-up time.

Permanent as well as movable walls leverage clear or translucent materials such as glass, and wood-framed glass doors on sliders provide privacy for workers while consuming less space than swinging doors. Glass and other surfaces in offices and hallways can be used as write-on/wipe-off boards for instant brainstorming.

Impromptu meeting spaces make communication possible almost anywhere. Open areas across from enclosed offices are perfect for project workers, interns or temps. But aside from these spaces, randomly placed seating areas and beefed-up coffee lounges (called "mixer" space), with bar-style and traditional seating, provide an environment for informal sit-downs without requiring conference room reservations.

Situation rooms for crash projects let teams enclose their work space into a single "war room" with open desk spaces, writeon/ wipe-off walls, sofas and a small informal conference table for team huddles.

Taking a cue from residential interior decorating, designers have chosen natural wood surfaces for meeting tables - patterns reminiscent of what might be found in a home versus the shiny veneers common in most boardrooms. The occasional overstuffed chair and brightly colored common areas lend a homey and creative feel conducive to open conversation.

SMALLER CUBES, MORE SPACE

Tech companies aren't the only environments where workers need less cube space, more conference areas, homier lighting, modular furnishings and a broader mix of gathering spaces for impromptu communications to accommodate the reality of ever-shifting work teams.