SOM.COM
SOM.COM
| At an investment fund headquarters, trading stations are spaced 32” apart for optimum communication between employees, and a concentric layoutgives the senior portfolio manager instant visual contact with every trader. The microperforated ceiling incorporates low-glare, low-maintenance neon lighting and high-performance mechanical systems. |
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| Instead of the typical stratified organization of an ordinary office building, Global Hyatt’s Headquarters features a connective cascading atrium that promotes interaction between employees, reinforces brand image, and provides a front-of-house space to welcome visitors. |
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| The office workstations for Global Hyatt’s Headquarters are based on a comprehensive study of employees’ time utilization, access to resources, and work processes. SOM developed three alternative schemes, testing them using video walkthroughs and physical models. Click to view a gallery featuring larger images. |
The Performative Workplace
by Stephen Apking, FAIA
In today’s economic climate, every company is seeking to use resources more efficiently. But an ever-changing market requires that businesses strengthen their competitive advantages at the same time. Peter Drucker once observed that “knowledge worker productivity requires that the knowledge worker is both seen and treated as an ‘asset’ rather than a ‘cost.’”(1) The challenge for many businesses today is to adopt new work processes and new models of organizational culture without making major investments in real estate.
In response to these seemingly contradictory imperatives, the design of office environments is undergoing a major paradigm shift. By adopting more strategic office designs, forward-thinking companies are transforming their physical environments into active instruments for achieving their goals.(2) A better layout and infrastructure, for example, can enable employees to do more with less space by directly supporting their work patterns. Modular systems afford the tactical flexibility to adapt seamlessly to radical organizational change. Healthy office environments lead to fewer sick days, reduced health care costs, and better performance.
The modern workplace was born in the mid-twentieth century of a desire to make offices more efficient and knowledge workers more effective. As management realized that human capital is the key to business performance, they sought new environments designed to help people work better. With the economy in transition once again, companies are feeling a renewed imperative to get the most out of their employees and their real estate. Yet the context of work is more diverse than ever:
Some employees require multiple settings for different tasks, while others may work primarily from home or from the road. The most successful workplaces today are designed to support the specific kinds of innovation, collaboration, and focused work that employees do. Like urban environments, they offer density, a sense of place, and the infrastructure to encourage productivity.
As a design partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), I have helped both major Fortune 500 firms and small start-up companies create new workplaces and revitalize obsolete ones. My clients have seen benefits ranging from dramatically lower real estate and operating costs to placing among Forbes’ top ten Best Companies to Work For. This white paper discusses some of the key components of performative work environments geared for today’s business environment.
(1) Peter Drucker, “Knowledge-Worker Productivity: The Biggest Challenge” in California Management Review XLI:2 (Winter 1999), 79-94
(2) For example, the U.S. General Services Administration‘s WorkPlace 20•20 initiative recognizes that an office environment “has the potential to increase individual productivity, and more importantly, it has the potential to help improve organizational eff ectiveness.” “Workplace Matters” (U.S. General Services Administration, 2006), 7
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