Designers rise to TV challenge.

Careful consideration of workspace design is important in every industry. Whether the workers involved be ad writers, investment bankers or workers on an assembly line, the physical design of the surrounding space can have a noticeable impact on morale and productivity.

Designing for any of the city's plethora of television studio and production companies presents unique challenges. Footage--and often employees--needs to be able to move fluidly between diverse and specialized areas in which the production of content, post-production polishing and broadcast of content take place. Negotiating the many needs of the humans and machines in these spaces can be difficult.

"When you're talking about designing for TV you're talking about one company, maybe in one building, with a variety of needs," said Tony Argibay, co-principal of Meridian Design Associates, Architects, a firm that has designed for many television entities, including HBO, CNN, Telemundo and Lifetime among others. "You have to see all the parts as part of a whole, like parts working in an engine. If you put one thing in the wrong place, you many end up doing something that effects the whole system."

Argibay said that a particular challenge to designing spaces for television is the amount of expensive, specialized and often heat- and light-sensitive equipment used to bring content from soundstage to the airwaves (or cable). Television studios themselves are packed full with lights, cameras of various sizes, sound equipment and the inevitable twists of wires. From there, footage travels to postproduction editing suites that must be kept dark in order for the editor to accurately gauge the color balance and clarity of the recorded content. From there, content is sandwiched together with other content, such as promos and commercials, and finally sent out via radio frequency or fiber optic cable to the end user. Given the amount of high-tech gear needed in the broadcast process, it becomes tempting to put the needs of the machines before the needs of the workers. This, Argibay said, must be avoided.

"Humanizing the technical flavor of one of these spaces is incredibly important. You want to convey the sense that people work there and that it's not just a temple for the machine," he said. "Our clients have come to understand that the better way to [operate] is to have an environment that is conducive to [workers] being happy and being able to concentrate on their work. It makes for less mistakes making it onto the air."

Often in their quest to design a proper workspace for television industry, Meridian consults the TV employees themselves and assesses their needs. A typical complain is a lack of natural light in the cavernous interiors of older studios and a lack of space for interaction between the employees of different disciplines. Meridian addressed both of these concerns with their redesign of the technical operations center for the cable network Lifetime

"The client was amazing in that they were very responsive and had representatives from every department expressing what they want," said Argibay. "Post production rooms have to be dark, but then you want to step out and be able to see if it's sunny or raining or what ... We designed parts of Lifetime to make it feel like you're working in a village."

Argibay said that the addition of artwork and peaceful social spaces in between departments has helped to make the Lifetime project a success.

"We don't view corridors as corridors but as places for circulation. Now, the difference in definition is subtle. But you're looking to create a place where people can interact with each other and be refreshed," said Argibay. "When people feel refreshed, they're happier about what they're doing and they do it better."