Say goodbye to trendy offices with foosball tables and funky furniture. These days, facilities managers are staying far away from "hip" and aiming for "functional," avoiding trendy looks in favor of enduring designs. "Our customers want classic design and furniture that will look good for several years," says Rod Ganiard, vice president of sales at Iowa-based furniture design firm, The HON Co. "Not like the avocado refrigerator that you know the year when everybody bought it."

Additionally, facilities managers want workspaces that are flexible and conducive to productivity. They seek spaces that lend themselves to multiple functions and that support high-tech capabilities, such as wireless LAN. In short, "they want to get the most out of their space," says Kim Sacramone, senior associate at HLW, a 118-year-old architecture, design and engineering, and consulting firm.

This trend toward high-performance workspaces reflects the tough economic conditions that have only recently started to lift. For example, the movement toward mobile furniture, which can easily be rearranged, is driven by the need to adjust to changes in personnel size. Businesses in New York City, where HLW is based, have been among the most badly shaken, with Manhattan construction projects plummeting in number by 29% from 3,603 in 2002 to 2,545 this year. As a result, the focus of workspace design is firmly on maximizing usage. Resting atop the priority lists of facilities managers and their designers are practical concerns such as flexibility, technological capability and accommodating a greater number of people. This is especially true in areas, such as Manhattan, where real estate is pricey.

For example, when HLW worked on the New York City headquarters of software giant SAP Global Marketing, it made sure that the facility was multi-functional. The headquarters needed to 1) contain the workspace of the marketing team, 2) serve as a hoteling environment for satellite offices around the globe, and 3) function as a public space for clients. To accommodate such needs, HLW incorporated a 100-seat theater for visitors with an adjacent area for the press and built an operable partition so the theater could be converted into office workspace. Moreover, the company designed cylinder-shaped workstations with walls that could be opened and closed. During client events, two to three additional staff members could fit into each workstation. Moreover, HLW integrated several different kinds of support spaces so employees could have extra privacy.

As this example illustrates, facilities managers and their designers are creating cost-effective and productivity-enhancing facilities by tailoring spaces to the needs of the organization and its workers. "It is not about rubber stamping what an office should be or what a school should be; it is about understanding the particular organization, its culture, and how it navigates its business," says Sacramone.

Additionally, a growing number of employers are realizing that good ergonomics can boost employee attraction and retention rates. "They are discovering that the physical environment has a tremendous impact on their employees, which empowers us to make the most out of their space," notes Sacramone. For example, HLW has found that optimizing natural light is beneficial and that giving end-users the ability to customize their workstations is an effective way to boost morale and productivity. And Ganiard from HON observes that, to match sunlit workspaces, facility professionals are favoring light-colored, slender furniture over dark, heavy pieces.

Indeed, facilities managers want to get the most value out of their spaces because they realize that this can translate to improved worker productivity and job satisfaction. "For us, value is a given," says Susan Boyle, HLW managing partner. "How the design supports the work process is the most important thing. Make people more comfortable; they become happier, they work more efficiently, their bosses are happy, and their bosses' bosses are happier. And, if it looks good, then everyone is happy."

Source:

Value-driven Design
Regina Raiford Babcock
Buildings.com, October 2003
www.buildings.com/Articles/detail.asp?articleid=1556