The unveiling of the first “Superdesk” just over a month ago caused eyebrows to rise in unison across the more discerning areas of the web. The 1100 ft table, which snakes through the open-plan office of New York advertising agency the Barbarian Group like a giant Scalextric, has been called “a marvel of design” and “4400 square feet of undulating, unbroken awesomeness" which "keeps people and ideas flowing."
Meanwhile, the Superdesk sceptics (mostly employees working in open-plan offices) murmured discontentedly about the lack of privacy, extreme distraction and loss of productivity created by the resulting noisy environment.