For a long, long time I had the idea that it was wrong that the people who design airplanes didn't have a chance to see them unless they bought a ticket," says Carolyn Corvi, a Boeing VP. When several buildings were damaged in a 2001 earthquake, she grabbed the chance to bring the 737's engineers, managers and machinists under the same roof.

NBBJ (which has also designed headquarters for Reebok and Starbucks) reimagined three storage towers for the massive site. Conference rooms face the factory floor, and cubicles - there are no longer private offices - have no fixed walls or furniture. NBBJ also decided to decorate with industrial surplus. Woven bamboo shipping crates became paneling in the leadership area; leftover aluminum parts templates were reassembled as collages. So successful was the move that all staff working on the 747, 767, 777 and 787 will start moving to the NBBJ-designed "Future Factory," in Everett, Wash., next October.