terminator: useful multi-window terminal emulator
one can set terminator up to start with pre-defined layout and terminals. important distinction: layout defines where and how a window should be setup and a profile defines which programs should run (e.g. initial working directory for bash).
at first define profiles for each different initial working directory.
then setup layout and select the appropriate profile for each. (just clicking custom command/working directory in layout did not work for me.)