We call them War Rooms, or Project Rooms here at frog. Nike also evolved into having a “status room”… they really help build momentum around an initiative, get people out of their cubes, and allows you see a lot of work all up and next to each other to contrast and compare.
Here are the benefits: keep all of the visual materials of a project (or projects) on the wall in chronological order so you can always see what is happening, including sketches, research, mockups. Work in that room so the feeling or essence of the project is amplified. Some basics:
All of the walls should either be pinup space or white boards… magnetic whiteboards on all walls would probably be best so you can pin up or talk through ideas
Conference table you don’t mind getting marked up with desk chairs
Lots of shelves help to so you can set up prototypes or mockups
Uses for the room:
Brainstorming
Collaborative work sessions
Project review
Impromptu status reports (boss should love this, he can come in the room at any point and SEE where the project is)
Focussed heads down time (multiple people can pump CAD on the same thing in the same space)