Architects can play a key role in helping your company create a workspace that matches your vision of how you want the company to operate.
“An architect can sit down and interview your key people and gain an understanding of how everyone works in your business,” says Alec Pacella, managing partner and senior vice president at NAI Daus.
“He or she can understand the critical components of your business and see what parts of the office need to be more collaborative and where you need to have more privacy.”
Collaboration and open space are more popular than ever in the working world, but Pacella says too much of anything is often not a good thing.
“You need to be able to draw a line between having open space and having a total free-for-all,” Pacella says.
Smart Business spoke with Pacella about how to develop a workspace that fits the needs of your business.
What is the biggest change in today’s typical workspace?
Companies are much more efficient in the way that they use space and that amounts to less square footage.
Some of the factors pushing this trend are the increase in shared working spaces and the rise in the number of people working from home, as well as the diminished reliance on paper files.
The raised floors that would cover up all the cables and wires don’t exist anymore. Younger employees want to be more collaborative and companies are adapting to create workspaces that facilitate that kind of working environment with the goal of boosting productivity.
What factors needs to be considered if you want to remake your space?
You need to take a balanced approach. Glass walls and doors have become very popular, but you can take it too far and leave everyone feeling like they are in a fishbowl. There are ways to temper it with frosted glass or transparent designs that allow you to see through it without the glass being crystal clear. This is where getting an architect involved can be very helpful in developing your plan.
Another consideration is IT. Think about where you’ll need charging stations to allow visitors to your office to plug in their electronic devices. You also need to examine the space to determine where wireless hotspots are needed and where potential Wi-Fi dead zones might exist.
These may not be as easy to identify as you think. There could be pipes or metal beams behind a wall that affect wireless connectivity. You can buy a repeater to boost the signal, but you’ll want to know about those kinds of issues before you run into problems.
What are the pros and cons of transforming your existing space?
Many business owners think it’s easier to just start with a blank slate. But you don’t want to just abandon a space that has served you well for a period of time without giving it some thought. It’s often more cost-effective to reconstruct an existing space, but there are factors to consider.
One issue is that you’ll have to live through the reconstruction, which can be distracting to your employees. In some cases, however, it doesn’t take a complete overhaul to create a fresh working environment. Furniture can often help you achieve what you’re looking for without having to remove any walls. Architects can usually connect you to reputable furniture vendors that can help you find what you need.
If you want to make a bigger change that transforms your culture, you probably do want to look for a completely new space where you can start with that blank slate. Just be sure you keep in mind the needs of your employees and what they’ll need to most effectively do their jobs.
Does less space mean less cost for real estate?
Business owners think that because they are going from 8,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet, they’ll save money. That might be true in terms of rent.
But if you take that money you’re saving in rent and use it to create a cafe or a conference room with multiple flat-panel monitors and comfortable seating areas, your real estate costs could easily stay the same.
Insights Real Estate is brought to you by NAI Daus
