Even as the heat rages on in Austin, it's still nice to enjoy some time outdoors after hours in a heavily air conditioned office.
Fortunately, many startups are starting to consider outdoor spaces in their office designs, making it easier for employees to work (and play) outside or have some fresh air flowing through their workspace.
We found five Austin companies whose offices were designed with outdoor spaces in mind.
At OutboundEngine's new space, there are plenty of places to admire the outdoors. Whether it's from the view, the patio or the close proximity to a running trail, employees have plenty of opportunities to get outside.
"We moved into our new space in the San Jacinto center at the end of June and it has been amazing for our employees. We have more space (two floors) and have all our Austin teams in the same building for the first time since January. The office has floor to ceiling windows all around, giving us a beautiful view of the river as well as downtown Austin. In addition to the view, the location allows employees to enjoy walks along the running trail or relaxing at the ground-level patio during their breaks." — Kedzie Teller
"I love the new space! It’s so bright and open, and the view is beautiful. I feel so lucky to work in an office like this." — Erin Wilder, Web Developer)
Sure your company has a ping pong table, but does it have an outdoor ping pong table? theChive uses their outdoor space for hanging out, taking meetings or settling a dispute around the ping pong table.
"Not unlike Parliament or a Knights of the Roundtable roundtable, our outdoor ping pong table is where disputes go to be settled. It's a real advantage to be good at pong here. It's like a currency. It's part of our social strata. We become friends at work, but we become brothers in arms at that table. There's been some epic games there. There are still some amazing rivalries. Of course, we like watching folks walk by the office and see our solid metal net with theCHIVE carved into it. They see we're fun here, that we live up to the motto. Legend has it, that if you hit the ping pong ball perfectly, it'll fit through the V. That's an automatic victory. Also, the table itself is great because it's made of concrete, so we know it can't be tossed over in a fit of rage. Most importantly, though, the concrete makes it a little more responsive to a ping pong ball and that gives us just a slight home-court advantage for our guys to whoop up on visitors who think they've got what it takes to play us in our house." — Dave Welch, Brand Director at Resignation Media/theChive
Everfest decked out their front yard with hammocks for relaxing and picnic tables for outdoor dining. It's also become a great place for meetings and events.
"Considering we're a festival company, it comes as no surprise that Everfest is a family of hammock-lovers. On any weather permitting day, it's pretty common to see some of the team working outside, half of us hammocking with laptops while the rest of us crowd around the picnic tables for a mid-day lunch. Every Friday, we like to gather under our giant oak tree for an afternoon of music and grilling (definitely a company favorite), and we have our weekly meetings out there as well.
"When it's not too hot out, I sometimes spend half of the day working under the oak tree. We hung up these awesome globe string lights over the picnic tables, which gives it a cozy, Austin feel." — Maddie Rish, Founding Team at Everfest
Located on the 16th floor of the Colorado Tower, Atlassian's outdoor spaces provide amazing views of the city and even act as casual meeting areas.
"Our balconies are furnished with seating that was built by an Austin-based designer and most of our large planters are made from recycled oil pipelines. All our plants are tended to organically, including our Texas Mojito garden - limes, mint and jalapeños." – Tim Haney, Workplace Experience Manager.
Bazaarvoice employees use their balconies to admire the Austin view. With a Whole Foods Café inside their office, they've got quite the set up.
"As Bazaarvoice entered our 11th year as a company, it was important that we have a headquarters that not only reflected the company’s storied past and our bright future, but also incorporates exciting design elements to truly make it a great place to work. This building hits the mark on all accounts. We had fantastic support and input on many elements of the building from our employees, including the outdoor decks and patio, open work areas, center staircase and all the natural light from the wall-to-wall windows around the building. The result is an impressive headquarters building that we are proud to work in every day." — Ryan Robinson, chief people officer at Bazaarvoice.
