Designing different spaces for different folk.Every company is unique. When contemplating a relocation RELOCATION, Scotch law, contracts. To let again to renew a lease, is called a relocation. 2. When a tenant holds over after the expiration of his lease, with the consent of his landlord, this will amount to a relocation. or a renovation, every company faces a slightly different set of challenges and aspirations aspirations npl → aspiraciones fpl (= ambition); ambición f aspirations npl (= hopes, ambition) → aspirations fpl for its new work environment. As workplace planners and designers, what is most exciting for us is how the workplace can be a tool for our clients to overcome business challenges and meet their aspirations. We find that we often work with our clients to study how they use the work environment before they begin to design a new workplace. One of the most interesting trends we've noticed lately is how the mobility of the workforce is impacting our clients' use of space. Recently, Gensler worked with two high-tech companies--let's call them A and B--who sought to understand the implications of workforce mobility on both their need for office space and the kind of office space that will best serve their employees going forward. Company "A" is a brand name in high-tech, well-known for its products and services. Since 1999, the number of mobile and home-based workers it employs has increased by 11% per year. So mobility is a growing consideration for its real estate strategy. Gensler's Andrew Garnar-Wortzel, director of consulting services Noun 1. consulting service - service provided by a professional advisor (e.g., a lawyer or doctor or CPA etc.) service - work done by one person or group that benefits another; "budget separately for goods and services" in our New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of office, and his team studied nine of A's office locations in the U.S. and Europe to understand how their mobile and "static" workers use the space. The company's assumption was that people would be in their assigned seats 70% of the time. This seemed reasonable, since "static" workers outnumber out·num·ber tr.v. out·num·bered, out·num·ber·ing, out·num·bers To exceed the number of; be more numerous than. outnumber Verb to exceed in number: mobile ones at these locations by more than two-to-one. The team found that the real figure is 40%. They also found that mobile workers don't use the mobility centers the company provides for them. Instead, they find empty seats near colleagues they want to see. When queried, mobile and static workers both said they wanted a workplace where they could meet informally and do focused work without being distracted by other people's phone calls and conversations. These findings suggest that the distinction between mobile and static workers is breaking down and that their workspace needs are converging con·verge v. con·verged, con·verg·ing, con·verg·es v.intr. 1. a. To tend toward or approach an intersecting point: lines that converge. b. . In response, Gensler recommended that the company make its office real estate non-territorial-with every seat and meeting space booked electronically. Gensler also developed new office workplace standards that include "universal" workstations that take advantage of wireless technology, and a different mix of meeting spaces, including many more "private rooms" that let people take their conversations out of hearing range of the shared workspace. These changes will also impact the company's density of space use. In a pilot application of its new real estate/workplace strategy, Gensler turned a workspace for 175 people into one that supports 442 much more effectively. Company B is a worldwide leader in providing outsourced information systems and technology services. Lately, its markets have become intensely cost-competitive and the company has restructured the business, significantly reducing its headcount and leaving it with excess workspace. B asked Gensler to help streamline its real estate and take advantage of the mobility of its workforce. Alternative workplace approaches appeared to be a promising strategy for accomplishing this. The team, led by Loree Goffigon, Gensler's director of consulting services in our Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. office, benchmarked the experience of eight comparable companies with the most popular approaches: hoteling, free address (just-in-time), team-based settings, telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. , swing offices and the use of clients' workspace. They found that each approach has pluses and minuses. The minuses include lack of storage space, scheduling conflicts and the potential for mismatches between available space and need. The pluses include increased density of real estate use, shorter commute TO COMMUTE. To substitute one punishment in the place of another. For example, if a man be sentenced to be hung, the executive may, in some states, commute his punishment to that of imprisonment. times, greater personal flexibility and greater choice of where to work. For company B's workforce, the latter three are attractive features. Gensler developed a new workplace template for the company, based on existing design standards Design standards Specifications of materials, physical measurements, processes, performance of products, and characteristics of services rendered. Design standards may be established by individual manufacturers, trade associations, and national or , incorporating seven alternative workplace approaches. The company then analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. the impact on three of the regional office real estate portfolios in the U.S. and Brazil. On that basis, it was estimated that the company could reduce its global office real estate by 20% or about 4.5 million s/f. For the company, this offers the potential of savings in real estate costs, and, most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent" above all, most especially , allows it to create a work environment that enables its employees to be more productive and efficient. JOSEPH BRANCATO GENSLER ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN & PLANNING WORLDWIDE |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion