How Building Owners Can Reimagine Space for a New Age

HOUSTON—Most people have been working virtually for about eight months and an early analysis of the work from home experiment proves that it is succeeding. In fact, some companies have announced that employees can work at home forever while others have pushed return to office dates deep into 2021.

What does this mean for the workplace? Stuart Harris, principal at business consulting, interior architecture and design firm PDR recently discussed what the firm foresees for the workplace of the future and what its energy clients and global developers are asking about the reimagined workplace.

GlobeSt.com: What is the prognosis for workplaces, whether office towers or campuses?

Harris: Without any hesitation, I can say that the office is not a relic of a different time. I and others in my interior architecture firm have been working with landlords and tenants on the most effective workplace in this new age including how the design will fuel the organization and its people. We are consulting our clients that there are three key aspects of the future workplace:

1. It needs to be human-centric. Building owners, landlords and employers must start with the people who work there in mind. We call this the inside-out approach.
2. The workplace is the embodiment of a company’s culture and brand. Employee surveys show that regardless of age, geography and experience level, workers miss the interaction that going to the office allows.
3. It will have to be the most compelling place to be. Our next normal is where the office is one piece of an ecosystem of places that all ensure safety, create desirable work environments and promote the ‘why’ in why our people get together.

GlobeSt.com: How should building owners and tenants prepare or modify buildings for this new age and for workers to return?

Harris: Generally, we’ve been discussing with clients how to best use amenities, i.e., what will be necessary, valuable and utilized? And, what should lobbies be?

We look at this from a tenant perspective, taking the whole experience into play and then designing for the human experience. This tenant experience or an individual’s perception of whether or not this is really a compelling experience is completely colored by the entire process from arrival to getting to the tenant space. Companies that endeavor to truly create this human-centric experience must work closely with building owners and developers as well as designers to think through that entire journey. Imagine a new measure of a truly class-A building that adds a building’s human experience to the more traditional markers. This emphasis on the experience will re-emphasize and amplify investments in building amenities. A few examples:

Frictionless technology: Touchless technology that seemed like a real luxury back in February is now becoming the standard. Beginning at the building entry and thinking through each door and portal all the way to the tenant space, people will expect to be able to securely but easily travel without touching a door handle, pushing a button or turning a lever.

The touchless experience will extend to toilet rooms where we are already seeing some of the most significant changes. Imagine entrances and exits without doors, not unlike arrangements found in airports. In offices, this will allow a fully touch-free experience when augmented with flush valves, faucets, soap and hand drying.

A move to individual gender-neutral toilet rooms may also accelerate. Sensors open doors when rooms are unoccupied and disinfecting UV lights switch off so the room can be safely used. Upon exiting, the room is locked and sanitized for the next occupant.

Vertical transportation: One of the most vexing quandaries in this new paradigm is elevators but design solutions are already being studied and tested that may alter how tall buildings are organized. One solution envisions large elevator cabs with greater capacity traveling to amenity-rich sky lobbies with smaller shuttles operating between there and a particular floor. Shorter distances to floors may also be augmented with fire stairs that are wider with better materials and lighting to promote use and provide real alternatives to elevator rides.

Common areas: The building lobby and these sky lobbies may all be considered neighborhood hubs that are amenity-rich and designed for both solo work and small groups. Imagine a place that augments tenant spaces in the building, creates a landing place for visitors and guests in order to segregate them from private/secure tenant spaces and is subject to obvious, robust cleaning and sanitizing throughout the day. These spaces will incorporate biophilic/natural attributes and embody energizing urban vibes that help people thrive.

Amenities: Food and drink service may initially be augmented by the landlord, but eventually migrate completely into the purview of the landlord. The ability to maintain a clearly and obviously sanitized and controlled atmosphere, the chance to provide greater variety and choice, and the way in which food and drink activate the other building amenities will be too great a chance for building landlords to pass up. Of course, phone apps will facilitate service and convenience. Tenants may augment this offering with their own, however we look for many tenants to simply give up that function, use the building offerings for catering and special events, and subsidize employee’s use of the landlord-provided amenities. There may be significant cost savings for a tenant to take advantage of fewer shared areas compared to build-out and maintenance of their own.

Meeting and conference facilities may also evolve in a similar model. Robust technology offerings, capability for large and small groups, easy reconfigurability or furnishings and even walls, and access to food, drink and concierge-level service can make the building offering considerably more desirable than what each tenant can provide.

Knowing tenant workplace strategies will evolve in a post-pandemic environment, building owners should conduct an audit to assess and analyze buildings with purpose of understanding the unique opportunities their building can offer to attract tenants. Collaboration between owners and tenants will drive building operations into supporting a healthy and robust ecosystem. Making the right investments now will set up owners for when the economy rebounds.

GlobeSt.com: What should buildings do with space in the age of flexible remote work policies?

Harris: We are imagining a blended model where employees are empowered to choose where to work on a daily basis (home, the office or anywhere in between). This leads to new paradigms for office buildings.

The first impact on workplace design will be the approach to simple planning. Flexible, modular planning logic and building systems will have a distinct advantage for organizations as physical needs evolve. Nimble spaces that can change overnight from large to small or open to closed will be supported by flexible building systems, planning that prioritizes daylight and the outdoors for all.

Moving outside the realm of the traditional idea of an office building, the pandemic impact and the great WFH experiment all intersect with a heightened awareness that childcare and K-12 education are closely linked with work effectiveness. With that, we are exploring how education and work protocols can more closely align. Can building owners and tenants step up and partner with public education? Can there be school in downtown office buildings? Can a building amenity be a classroom set up or child-centric space?

To sum it up, the requirement that the workplace must be a compelling human-centric place has never been more critical to business success. Investing in this new redefined workplace will be a competitive advantage to attract and retain the best and brightest. Once the economy comes back, talent will hold the upper hand, and employees will pick and choose organizations that invested in people through compelling work settings and flexible work models. Owners should prepare buildings to support and enhance these tenant strategies.