In celebrating your culture - your only true competitive advantage - expecting and inviting change means the robust infrastructure of spaces that adapt to every situation. In non-client facing but readily accessible gathering spaces, active, noisy, and social means messy.
The in-between areas have too often been overlooked, and ancillary furniture treated as fill-in pieces. Attracting and retaining staff - and then bringing them into the office in this digital age so that ideas and skills are shared - requires persuading the next generation to choose your company. Does your space inspire people to do great work?
The momentum after meetings is frequently lost as participants flee to their respective workstations afterwards. An appropriate adjacent space for conversations about thoughts, feelings, and impressions from the meeting is critical, as are discussions about intended follow-up. Comfortably furnished to invite such discourse, these spaces serve as relaxing break-out zones between meeting sessions.
"Physical proximity still matters for research productivity and impact."
- Isaac Kohane, Harvard Medical School
Creating those in-between spaces with inviting ancillary furniture pieces creates an environment that draws people together and lights the spark of co-creation and innovation.
It is important to have a space connecting the various zones of the office where separate teams can come together to share knowledge and exchange ideas. This space becomes the knowledge marketplace - a place where teams can casually foster information sharing and relationship building, making sure separate teams are always aligned.
Meeting areas must be flexible, both in use and furnishings. A minimum number of pieces should be able to create varied layouts, and more importantly, the required adjustment of the furniture must be simple and intuitive.
