In the midst of the agency's turmoil in the early nineties, Jay Chiat devoted much of his attention to a very personal project. In addition to his talents as a motivator and a business generator, Jay Chiat was a true visionary when it came to constructing what has been called "the creative environment." Chiat is well known for his devotion to modern architecture and art and his personal tastes were reflected in Chiat/Day’s offices. "I’m a frustrated architecht," commented Chiat. "I have a need to build environments because I believe an environment impacts the quality of work and the type of people you can attract." (Seo, 1999, p. C1.) In the late 1980’s, Chiat enlisted his close friend, architect Frank Gerhy, to design the new offices for Chiat/Day in Venice Beach, California. (H.O., 1994, p. 30.) The building was simply stunning consisting of two large modern buildings that were joined by a four-story pair of binoculars. Inside the oversized binoculars were conference rooms called "The Boathouse," and "The Fish." Both were given their names because of their unusual shapes and sizes. (p. 30.)

Jay Chiat was believer in the notion that chaos bred creativity. TBWA/Chiat/Day employees all worked in cubicles that were exactly the same size. Chiat’s cubicle was the same size as Lee Clow’s, which was the same size as the most junior of copywriters. However, after conducting an internal study of work patterns and recognizing the potential offered by mobile communications devices, Chiat (while on a ski slope on Aspen, Colorado) decided to completely overhaul the way the agency operated. (p. 30) The press called the result, "the virtual office." Chiat preferred the term "resource office." (Dickson, 1994, p. 12.) Either way, it was a radical departure from the typical way that businesses operate.

First, Chiat abolished all personal desks and cubicles. Instead, rooms were built for specific accounts. Creatives and planners working on the Nissan account could meet in the Nissan suite, Absolut workers would convene in the Absolut room. Lockers were assigned to people who wished to store family photos and personal items, but personal desks in the middle of the workspace were forbidden. Additionally, all employees were assigned cellular telephones and laptop computers so that they could be completely mobile. Phones and laptops were given out from a storage room early in the morning and they were to be returned later that same day. Finally, there was a push to remove as much paper as possible from the office. All mail and documents were scanned into a central network where they could be viewed by anyone. Even personal letters were made public on TBWA/Chiat/Day’s network.

It was a daring experiment that Chiat knew would be met with some resistance. "Naturally, it makes people nervous," commented Chiat in 1994. ((H.O., 1994, p. 30.) However, Chiat believed that this method of operation would free his employees to work wherever they felt they could do their job best. Additionally, he believed that this would strengthen the bond between agency and client due to the fact that agency employees were no longer tied to the office. And of course, everyone could read each other’s personal mail if one such letter happened to get scanned into the hard drive. Said Chiat, "Then it’s a great day at the agency." (p. 30.)

Unfortunately, this experiment would rank among other of Chiat’s ideas as brilliant, yet problematic. "At first, people were enthusiastic. But after about six months, people rebelled." commented Stephanie Stephens, an account services manager. (Pearson, 1999, p. 102.) Many employees began to stake out their own personal space, despite Chiat’s protestations. Additionally, there were not enough cell phones and laptops to go around. Some employees actually dispatched interns early in the morning to snatch up a laptop and cell phone so that they could have one when they arrived later in the day.

In the end, TBWA/Chiat/Day was forced to explore new options when they moved into a building in early 1999. This time, they took the lessons learned from the "resource office" and created an office environment that went back to personal desks and cubicles. However, true to Chiat’s original vision, these workstations could be moved and rearranged if necessary. (p. 102.) Also like Chiat’s "resource office" there were spaces available for people to collaborate and share ideas, however, they could always go back to their desks if they needed a little privacy. It was the perfect realization of Chiat’s dream to create a truly responsive and creative environment.

However, Chiat was not around to see that environment in action. After selling his agency to Omnicom in 1995, Jay Chiat stepped down from the ranks at Chiat/Day for the last time. Reportedly, he made over $5 million dollars from the sale and set out to lower his golf handicap. He also planned to spend the rest of his life travelling. (Li, 1999, p. 7.) But, this was not to remain the case. In early 1999, Jay Chiat returned to spotlight once more, with yet another trick up his sleeve.