As states reopen economies and businesses transition away from work-at-home orders, workplace experts at Dyer Brown have created a confidential playbook to be released later this summer to their clients and select associations and media.
Titled Future Shift: Workspaces in Transition, the much-anticipated illustrated guide provides detailed insights and solutions to help organizations of all sizes adapt their office spaces for safe, productive operations. It is based on work by Dyer Brown — a national workplace strategy and design firm based in Boston and Atlanta — working for blue-chip corporations, major commercial landlords and property managers, nonprofits and leading universities all planning their return to shared workspace.
According to Dyer Brown architect Karen Bala, AIA, the publication Future Shift: Workspaces in Transition presents illustrated and checklist-style advice for senior executives in varied organizations with significant commercial workplaces or office holdings.
Future Shift covers everything from office layouts and interpretations of health guidelines to organizational objectives and effective communications. Specific solutions are laid out for office workstations, new signage, shared space design such as pantries, touchless technologies, and employee circulation patterns. Actionable case studies highlight effective workspaces and modifications to public areas of commercial buildings.
“Our goal is to outlining a flexible yet clear and repeatable process for companies of varied sizes that help at any phase of returning to in-office work,” says Brent Ziegler, AIA, IIDA, president of Dyer Brown. “Future Shift is designed to facilitate returning to work safely and at optimal levels of productivity.”
The playbook will be released for public use in July.
“COVID-19 SIGNAGE + GRAPHICS: OUR APPROACH:
Create awareness, not alarm.
This is our approach to signage and graphics in response to COVID-19. You won’t see neon yellow, black, and large bold letters. Instead, thoughtful color and typography choices ensure that the signage and graphics stand out without causing ‘signage fatigue.’
NOTE: COVID-19 is new and nobody has definitive answers on the spread of the virus or how to prepare offices for the return to work. DBA can assist based on the currently available information, but we cannot guarantee that the solutions will be protective or that the available information will not change. If you would like to obtain advice specific to your facility or go beyond these guidelines, then you may engage an industrial hygienist or health and safety consultant to determine the appropriate standards for your facility. The suggested entry and exit paths are for normal day use. However in the event of an emergency, please follow emergency exit signs to the closest exit doors or exit stair to evacuate the building. The physical distance clearances that Dyer Brown Architects are showing on the plan are based on the guidelines provided by the Governor’s Office in the State of Massachusetts at this time. Please refer to the CDC, OSHA, state and local government’s COVID-19 documents for additional guidance.”
