Green Buildings: The Employee Experience

The new San Francisco Federal Building may be winning kudos from architecture aficionados and proponents of sustainable design, but it's getting mixed reviews from the federal employees who actually have to work in it, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Some love its futuristic shape and environmental friendliness. Others says it's ugly and that floor-to-ceiling windows--designed to bathe workspaces in natural light--create too much glare on computer screens.

Because the building relies on a natural ventilation system, its temperature varies from 68 to 81 degrees. And its main elevators stop only only every third floor, forcing employees to use stairs to reach the floors in between. But apparently some are cheating and using a separate elevator designed for people with disabilities that opens on every floor.