The Wonderfactory

Besides its great view of the Empire State Building, Zagat's says our waiting room is "The #1 spot for dropping water balloons on unsuspecting tourists." Visitors who ask Karl for a beer instead of water receive preferential treatment.
THE WAITING ROOM
We have two large collaborative areas that are organized by client teams. The bookshelf in this photo holds one "hero" figure chosen by each employee. David Link's hero is an "inflatable date" (not shown)
OPEN WORKSPACE I
We have a tripod that holds three HD handy cams that shoot a 180-degree landscape. When employees take vacations we ask them to shoot video so the rest of us can experience their trips on the three HD monitors in this room. Notice the wallpaper? It was designed by three of our talented designers. Wow, we said "three" a lot in this caption!
THE VIEW
This large conference room has two ornately framed digital photo/video monitors at one end and a 60-inch flat screen with surround sound at the other - for presenting to clients by day and for movie-watching and gaming by night.
NEVER LAND
We recently expanded our office and created a second collaborative workspace. We like having a space where anyone can see any work being done on any screen at any time, and share ideas for improvement.
OPEN WORKSPACE IIa
Here is another view of our new extension. We've created numerous common areas where people can take a break from their computer screens, or stimulate creativity by changing their environment.
OPEN WORKSPACE IIb
Here is a view of our lounge area and part of our "Critique Wall." We often print out our latest work and clip it up on the wall to the left so that team members can write their comments directly onto the work, and so that non-team members can contribute as well.
PLAY LOUNGE
Research is a big part of what we do at The Wonderfactory. In this lab we employ all the most sophisticated research hardware (Nintendo Wii, xbox 360, Apple TV, HD cable) and software (Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, Wii Tennis). We find that Belgian beer and research make a great combo! Come by and do some research with us!
RESEARCH LAB
Across the largest continual wall in our open workspace one of our talented designers (Angel... pronounced 'An-gal') painted a mural that represents Urban Wonder, sort of a cross between Peter Marx, Alice In Wonderland, and...Angel!
HAND-PAINTED MURAL
This is our new large conference room that has faux windows with an illustrated forest (in vector graphics) which was created by a young Russian artist. The tables fold up and we can clear the room to become a small HD soundproof video studio - behind a curtain on the other side of the room is a green screen.
WONDERLAND
This is an informal area to eat some lunch with friends, or have a small cozy meeting. It was inspired by a restaurant in Georgetown named Mie N Yu that dedicates different rooms to different cultures and menus.
THE NOOK
This large 1930s-inspired library is a great place to relax, do research, or draw in your sketchbook. We have a large selection of design books that we add to regularly. Not shown: two window seat swings facing our view of the Empire State Building.
THE LIBRARY
We can't tell you what's secret about it, but if you can find this room you will see that it's a fun place to hold a meeting as well as a storage vault of great ideas.
SECRET IDEAS ROOM
This is an informal room for small meetings where you sit in a large, dragon-throne chair and bang your head against a red, padded wall. We spent $285,000 to build this room simply because David Link wanted to be able to tell people to "Go to hell!" when asked the location of a meeting. So juvenile.
GO TO...HELL
This is where David Link and Joe McCambley hide all day pretending to work.
PARTNERS' OFFICE