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BDP’s Andrea McCann shares ideas, concepts and learnings from the method of designing their new Toronto studio.
As an alternative of making an attempt to get again to how issues was, why not use this generational change in how individuals work to create one thing higher? How can designers create nice area that encourages extra individuals to come back into the office?
These are the sorts of questions that we requested ourselves as we designed our new studio in downtown Toronto’s new mixed-use neighborhood generally known as ‘The Properly’. The workforce used this chance as an train in self-experimentation, innovation and discovery — with the objective of studying from ourselves to create higher areas for our purchasers.
The profound adjustments in working strategies and areas has pushed office designers to reimagine how an workplace capabilities and even, what an workplace is. Whereas there’s nobody clear reply of proper or flawed, designing for conduct is on the core of latest office design.
This behavioral design core means letting customers and their motion and habits inform the design of the area, as an alternative of the area implementing a sure approach of working. Prior to now, the workplace dictated a 9-5 presenteeism, that allowed for quiet particular person desk work and assembly areas for calls and gatherings. How individuals bodily work has modified, and the area must adapt to that. Areas are extra multi-generational than ever earlier than, with everybody studying new day-to-day habits, every working in another way and requiring several types of area. The impact is that workplaces want to supply a variety of versatile, adaptable and collaborative zones with inclusion and wellness high of thoughts — a significant area that individuals need to come back again to, as a result of it evokes and energizes.
With the way forward for work unsure at greatest, office design in 2023 is an thrilling problem but additionally a possibility to create one thing new. It’s an iterative and revolutionary course of that doesn’t simply cease as soon as the workplace is occupied.
So what does that course of appear like? Listed below are some key learnings:
Partaking the Finish-Consumer
Designing for conduct means designing for the tip consumer. It’s essential to contain and interact a broader cross-section of the individuals who will use an area early within the design course of, reasonably than a top-down senior administration method. Implementing hands-on instruments like surveys and inventive workshops will have interaction the tip customers whereas offering invaluable insights for the design workforce.
For instance, we used hands-on and interactive charettes to glean insights from workers. This included strategies just like the Preserve-Toss-Create workshops, the place individuals introduced precedents for office design options, examined and vetted these concepts as a workforce sharing their concepts about how area use is altering. One other partaking train we used within the design course of was A-Day-In-The-Life, during which individuals have been requested to attract ideas about what they assume their new workday sooner or later studio area might appear like. These strategies helped harness concepts and interact consumer teams establishing objectives and requirements that turned general planning methods.
Surveys, too, are an vital strategy to assess finish consumer suggestions and supply design concepts. Surveys ought to occur all through the method to assist workers stay engaged within the course of and excited concerning the future. Opinions evolve over time and it’s vital to constantly collect this info.
Transparency and speaking the thought course of behind design choices can be vital to generate buy-in. Setting particular milestones all through the length of the venture and marking these milestones with company-wide city halls with open dialogue is usually a good strategy to go about doing this.
Engagement and communication is about user-centered design but additionally about getting the tip consumer on board. In the event that they’re a part of the method and have been part of the iterative design resolution making, naturally they’ll really feel extra dedicated and trusting of larger design adjustments, and extra inspired to come back into the workplace.
Investing effort and time upfront in finish consumer engagement and communication pays dividends down the road. On the finish of the day, good design doesn’t imply something in case you haven’t designed it to the consumer’s conduct.
Designing for Flexibility
In at present’s hybrid work surroundings, office designers have to ask themselves the query: what are they providing that may encourage workers to come back into the workplace? For the brand new studio, it was clear there wanted to be a variety of several types of areas that workers could possibly be in all through the day, for several types of pondering, working and doing.
With this in thoughts, the studio was designed to incorporate a variety of areas that adjust in lighting, views, really feel and construction. From an ‘Oasis’ quiet zone, subtle with pure mild and plants as an area to mirror and recalibrate, to the ‘Black Field’, an area for targeted dialogue built-in with expertise and devoid of colour and distraction, to the softly lit and casually designed ‘Again Alley’, providing an area for spontaneous interplay and collaboration.
Notably, workers gravitate to totally different areas of the studio relying on the kind of work they’re doing and proximity to others working in studio. This encourages in-studio presence, as workers know that no matter the kind of work they should do on a given day, there’s a area designed for it.
Whereas flexibility is vital, it is usually vital to know that totally different groups and capabilities have totally different preferences. That’s why studio design surveying and testing must be tailor-made to particular person workforce wants. For instance, whereas design teams needed flexibility to maneuver between the totally different neighborhoods of the studio, assist teams reminiscent of IT and HR wanted a house base, appearing as anchor factors for the studio. The studio design displays this tailor-made understanding.
Fairness & Inclusion on the Forefront
Nobody owns a window, a view, pure mild or a particular area. In designing the brand new studio, BDP created a brand new kind of nook workplace — the very best areas within the workplace are for everybody.
Taking a neurodivergent lens to workplace design may even assist construct extra versatile areas, which is crucial in at present’s hybrid surroundings. Balancing the design of the totally different work environments to supply for each open collaboration and diminished stimuli. Moreover, the versatile environments that supply a variety of various areas makes the excellence between departments and groups much less obvious and helps foster inclusion.
Phased Occupancy & Continued Innovation
The final step within the course of is a phased occupancy. By welcoming individuals into a brand new workplace in smaller teams, it helps be certain that they’re handled effectively and might ease into the brand new area with out being overwhelmed by the change all of sudden. Making a welcoming return is step one into the brand new area and a brand new in-person working tradition and surroundings.
The design and engagement course of doesn’t finish as soon as workers have moved into the brand new area. You will need to proceed with sturdy and frequent inner communication through emails or occasions like city halls, to focus on instruments and options of the brand new workplace that workers won’t be aware of. This consists of post-occupancy engagement surveys to evaluate suggestions from the tip customers and make adjustments as wanted.
The experiment didn’t finish as soon as workers moved in. The design workforce continues to speak, take a look at, tweak and innovate to enhance the design and make the office the very best it may be.
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