As 2020 roars in – a Leap Year packed with action both political (elections) and otherwise (Olympics, for example) – it would be easy to lose track of what generations of scientific research have taught us about effective workplace design. In this article and ones to follow, we’ll recap what completed studies tell us about developing new spaces, whether they’re new construction or renovations or re-purposings or something else.
One of the key considerations in any workplace design effort is planning for the activities likely in the space. Straightforward consideration of how users add value to an organization and the development of places that truly support adding value, all too often, doesn’t actually happen.
If users should be able to concentrate, for example, then the environments around them need to be “peaceful” – which means calming colors, natural materials, green leafy plants, daylight, elimination of stressors such as audio and visual distractions, and opportunities for cognitive refreshment (via nature views or art or visible water, for example).
If teamwork is key – then true team spaces, demarcated zones for particular groups of people, boost performance, for instance.
From a sensory perspective, keeping visual clutter in check can boost performance, whatever activities are planned. Clutter is stressful, and when we’re stressed, some of our mental energy is diverted from the task at hand, our execution of whatever we’re working on is degraded, and we get cranky. Keeping visual clutter in line means adding lockers where employees can stock stuff not needed at a particular work moment, for example, and near-seat compartments/bins/etc. that can replace the sight of oodles of individual bits of stuff with a vision of a single, larger entity (that doesn’t provide a view of its contents). The goal in clutter management is to create a space that, reminiscent of the three bears fairy tale, is neither too visually complex or to simple, instead one that is just right.
Residential interiors designed by Frank Lloyd Wright generally have moderate visual complexity, and workplace designers should emulate their level of “visual activity” in workplaces.
Workplaces need to provide users with some control over their environment. When users are presented with a carefully curated set of options that align with the ways they are likely to need to use a space, their cognitive performance, and even their creativity, soar. A “curated” set of options is four-to-six alternatives that create potentially desirable conditions. Four-to-six lighting presets in a conference room, that vary in light color and intensity, and can facilitate likely uses, from birthday parties to collective, focused work, work for users. Circular dials that can be tuned through any imaginable light color and intensity lead to stress.
Workplace art can send messages about what is important to an organization, and that signaling makes it more likely that people who share an organization’s values will join it in the first place and remain employees far into the future. Art can signal via its subject matter and its maker (if known/recognizable), for example. Paintings of bucolic 1950’s images communicate something different than graffiti art, for example. Using art is getting to be more difficult as interior walls disappear from workplaces – leaving less space for paintings, photography prints, etc. – so it’s great that other design elements, from materials selected to floor layouts to office location can also communicate nonverbally to visitors, both naïve and more seasoned.
In this article, we’ve had a chance to talk about four crucial, research-supported attributes of effective workplaces – they recognize planned activities, optimize visual complexity, manage control, and send the right messages with design elements. In upcoming articles we’ll review more than a dozen others.
Sally Augustin, PhD, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com). Research Design Connections reports on research conducted by social and physical scientists that designers can apply in practice. Insights derived from recent studies are integrated with classic, still relevant findings in concise, powerful articles. Topics covered range from the cognitive, emotional, and physiological implications of sensory and other physical experiences to the alignment of culture, personality, and design, among others. Information, in everyday language, is shared in a monthly subscription newsletter, an archive of thousands of published articles, and a free daily blog. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.