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Comment by bluedino | Hacker News Reader

I love how Rackspace took over an abandoned mall for office space. I think it'd be great to see that happen more often.

Food court, lots of parking, usually good locations, many different size parcels from huge (think a Sears) to small (RadioShack) that would be suitable for businesses of many sized.

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Imagine working in an open office space the size of a Sears floor. That's what I see every time one of my Racker friends posts up a picture of their workspace. Ugh.

There are people who would have you believe this is a good thing. I share your revulsion.

You can take a look around inside on Google Maps.

https://goo.gl/maps/VTkMW8dmL1t

It looks like someone just put tables in there. They didn't hire an interior designer?

Take it from someone that used to work there -- it's horrific. The noise level is unbelievable. All the technical folks live in their noise-canceling headphones all day.

10 years at INLD / PEER1. The shopping mall was the final nail in the coffin of the idea that I might ever move to SAT and jump ship to Rackspace.

I'm surprised they didn't do anything for the noise. I have seen some really interesting noise cancelling ceiling treatments if the ceilings are high. One looks a bit like a kelp forest hanging from the ceiling only denser. The "leaves" on the vertical vines form a noise capturing space so absolutely nothing bounces off the ceiling.

Exactly, the false ceiling is designed to absorb sound. If you remove that the space is nothing but a concrete echo chamber.

They tried various things like big fabric panels designed to absorb sound hanging from the ceiling, special wall treatments, and moving desks around and such around.

It's just a big space with thousands of people, many of them on the phone all day.

Interesting, did they keep data on what they tried do you know?

I don't know. I hope they do since they're always trying to improve the noise situation.

How is living in San Antonio? I had a recruiter from Rackspace contact me and that seemed like a big negative.

I was actually in the Austin office most of the time but spent a lot of time at "The Castle" (as they call the SA headquarters).

Texas is a bit different and SA is that plus more. It's hot. ;)

Austin is great, though, and I still live here (albeit about 30 miles NW out in the country).

I'm actually from around Austin. It is a great city.

You need ceiling tiles and/or carpets that absorb sound instead of reflecting it. I was involved in a couple of office moves with Meraki when they still hadn't found an office large enough for more than a year of growth. The moves were so rushed that the noise-dampening add-ons hadn't been installed, and the noise was horrendous; and then when they finally were installed, you could notice the difference very well.

Nothing says walls can't be built inside the stores

I spent a couple of days working in the Rackspace "castle". It felt much the same as the average Silicon Valley office building (which are typically constructed with big open floors populated by cubes). Except it has a slide and a food court..

I would also have a problem with the lack of natural light.

A friend's employer did this, along with some other companies, with a dead mall in whatever city he was in at the time. They got the food court reopened, and, yeah, parking was a breeze.

Perhaps not the most efficiently designed space for the purpose, but effective. The high ceilings, often skylights/atrium in the main corridors, could be nice walking space when you need a break, and not constrained by bad weather.

So cool!

Here's an indoor view, thanks to Google Maps:

https://www.google.com.br/maps/place/Rackspace+Hosting/@29.5...

And lots of space for roller skating

Our mall is cockroach ridden and dying. If I had my way, I'd close all the existing stores in it (JC Penny's and a shoe store). They would relocate to downtown Palatka. The mall itself would be full handed over to Government offices.

Presently there are a few government or government related presences in the mall.

Palatka FL? I lived in Pamona Park for a few months, that mall was sad indeed.

There was a mall in Dallas, TX called Prestonwood. After the mall went under, it was taken over and turned into a telecom office complex called Genisus [sic]. Ultimately, it failed, and the whole thing ended up getting bulldozed and turned into an outdoor strip mall anchored by a Walmart.

Oh sure. Middle of nowhere. No public transport. Sounds like a dream.

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