Pursuits

Nokia's Colorful Silicon Valley Office

Finnish mobile giant Nokia’s colorful outpost

The reception area. Touchscreens scattered throughout the office track Nokia's social media buzzPhotograph by Tim Griffith for Bloomberg Businessweek

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By Andrew Braithwaite

April 27, 2012 at 2:10 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

BusinessWeek Cover Image (12_18, portrait)

This article is part of the April 30, 2012 issue of businessweek.

Since 2010, Nokia has closed its five satellite offices in the Bay Area and relocated the employees—mostly workers from research and development and marketing—to a gleaming five-story building in Sunnyvale, Calif. There, amid Nordic modernity, they enjoy a shape-shifting office: Fewer than 10 of the 500 employees have a permanent workspace.

“It’s about the variety it gives you,” says communications manager Karen Lachtanski. “We move to new views to give a new perspective. We’re not a place with family portraits pinned to many cubicle walls.”