by Jay Smith, AIA, LEED AP, and Jane Bamford, AIA
After many months of working remotely, employees are returning to the workplace with new perspectives on how best to accomplish individual and group tasks. Employers, and the designers and developers shaping new workplaces, are responding with creative ways to reimagine office environments. The key is providing a variety of spaces and options for both accomplishing work and advancing workplace culture.
The Great Outdoors
Benefits of remote work have included gaining the flexibility to enjoy aspects of homelife while working and the knowledge that adaptable workspaces can be healthier and boost production. In addition, the outdoors has become synonymous with wellbeing, making connection to outdoor spaces a good choice for new developments.
New outdoor spaces are programmed into distinct areas—larger event space and shaded niches with benches or tables and chairs. These areas can adapt to accommodate large gatherings, while smaller, intimately scaled spots suit the work and socializing needs of individuals and small groups. Planning for ongoing activities sustain use beyond office hours with regular events such as happy hours, meditation classes, and formalized recreational activities. Landscape plants and trees, hardscape texture and patterning, and furnished groupings define different zones. Overhangs, canopies, trellises, wind breaks, screening, pergolas, sun shading elements and plants integrated into outdoor space ensure year-round comfort and use.
Outdoor space can also serve as a connector between residential buildings and office or mixed-use projects by providing a shared drop-off plaza, garden, or park. As a unifying element, outdoor spaces can inspire a development’s identity. At 301 Hillsborough, an elevated terrace links three towers with an active park that includes covered pavilions, landscaping and furnishings. Another option is to bring greenspace indoors, with the use of natural materials and interior plantings near lounges, fitness features or flexible spots for working and socializing.
Layered Amenities
Designers and developers are determining what building features can support future tenants. Larger amenity spaces, whether outdoors or on the interior, are typically coupled with other resources such as shared conferencing space, lounge or social spaces, and fitness facilities and features. In fact, a big draw in getting back to the workplace is our natural need for social interaction. By offering different amenities, work environments can set the stage for interaction to occur for collaboration and socializing beyond the office.
Amenities also provide employers the opportunity to think holistically about inviting people back to the office. A new mixed-use development, Horseshoe at Hub RTP, is tied to a vast municipal trail system and retail establishments and restaurants.
Bike facilities are on the rise, including connections to multiple modes of public transportation. Design for a new Atlanta project seeks to create an “end of trip” experience with a dedicated pathway for cyclists to move into the building, where a bike concierge/mechanic might store the bike for the day. A vestibule shop can allow cyclists to store their bikes or do their own maintenance. Some projects include stationary bikes, so an employee can ride in, cool down, and shower.
Access to alternative transportation and locating workplaces within walking distance to restaurants, retail, and cultural venues add to the amenities that make the workplace attractive. Thus, being at work becomes a more layered and balanced experience similar to the experience of working from home.
Wellness in the Air
While touchless and sanitation systems for restrooms and food service continue to have value, touchless systems for elevators, parking, and other forms of access have proven more frustrating than effective. Almost all require an app—one of many that run different touchless systems—and often users get bogged down trying to reach their desired destination.
As new information suggests, the COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through the respiratory system, and the critical design issue is ensuring high-quality indoor air. Strategies such as HVAC system flushing, frequently cycling in fresh air, and robust filtration and maintenance protocols improve the quality of interior air. Access to outdoor spaces and more open environments, including less densely packed office space, are all part of a good workplace wellness strategy. Equally important are overt and established cleaning protocols that demonstrate an employer is invested in the health of their staff and maintaining a healthy workplace.
Working from home has opened people’s eyes to the idea that having only one workspace option can be confining. Wellness includes mental health. Providing employees different types of workspaces allows them to choose the right space for a task to suit their individual needs. Options such as standing while working or moving to a different location are available while working from home. That freedom, independence, and choice are defining more than workplace design, they are rewriting office policy.
Togetherness, When it’s Right
Many of the trends covered involve bringing people together, and collaboration is the key reason. Creative industries rely on collaboration and teams generating ideas in ways that are nearly impossible virtually. People want to work face-to-face again, but their experience of productively focusing at home isn’t going away. Everyone’s perception of when and how to work has changed dramatically, so using task-based judgment on when to work from home and when to come together will continue.
Impromptu conversations among staff members are essential to workplace culture, so true togetherness means establishing opportunities where people can walk across a floor to have a conversation with a colleague. Making “together time” more productive is part of a learning curve we’ve all experienced over the last two years. Now the question arises, does this merit being in person or are we okay with a 30-minute virtual session? For now, togetherness is more about balance and new thinking on how, when, and where employees come together. The good news is that both our virtual systems and the physical space of the office continue to evolve. This gives employers and employees great options for defining their culture’s productivity and sense of togetherness.
A design director and principal at Duda|Paine Architects, Jay’s approach inspires and integrates the ideas of team members from all disciplines and levels of experience. His leadership across all phases of complex, large-scale projects is enhanced by his strength as a conceptual and analytical thinker. Since joining the firm more than eighteen years ago, Jay continues to gain insight from the unique interactions between art, building, and landscape, and the reciprocal relationship of making and thinking about architecture.
An associate principal at Duda|Paine Architects, Jane’s design approach is defined by her outstanding interpersonal and communication skills and expertise in documentation and constructability. She brings a passion for design and excellent organizational skills together to lead complex mixed-use interdisciplinary projects. Her understanding of project delivery and team dynamics helps with strategic planning and management of the office.