This story comes from Alex Papadimoulis of The Stalled Server Room. It was originally posted on 6/24/08.
According to Papadimoulis, one company was forced to move from its second floor space to another location on the first floor of the same building when its lease came up. The request seemed easy enough, aside from the slight disruption caused by the move. However, there was an unfortunate sticking point; the company would not have space (or the money, for that matter) to move its server room and all of the accompanying equipment from the existing second floor location.
So here’s the weird part. Papadimoulis reports, to accommodate the new second floor tenant (who wouldn’t want to deal with the inconvenience of interruptions from people traipsing through to work on the server room):
“building management and the company’s executives came up with an alternative: wall off the server room door and build a new one. It seemed simple enough, but there was, however, just one small hitch. The only available wall to install a door was adjacent to the women’s restroom. Inside the handicapped stall.” (Pictured below.)
Here is a copy of the memo sent by the building management company as an explanation for the “creative” space planning resolution.
From: —- ——–
Sent: Monday, May 5, 2008 4:37 PM
To: Everyone
Subject: Server Room Access
Hi all.
As you all are aware, we have new tenants that have moved into the 2nd floor suites. The access to the server room is now via the women’s bathroom.
There will be a sign on the woman’s door that can be changed from OPEN to CLOSED and vice versa.
Should you need to enter the server room, please change the sign to CLOSED. Once you are done, please change it back to OPEN.
Once you enter the bathroom, you will be able to access the server room via the handicapped stall. Please close the stall door prior to entry, just in case someone doesn’t see that the
bathroom is closed.
I know this isn’t ideal, but if we adhere to this protocol, I don’t think anyone will be disrupted.
Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions.
—- ——–
Building Management
Questions? Gee, where do we start?
Many thanks to Jo Katz for submitting this story to FacilityBlog.
Yet another example of misunderstanding of the requirements for technology spaces. It never ceases to amaze me that people do not have a clue about what’s required for reliable, secure technology space.