With research indicating conventional office space design inhibits communication and productivity, designers are introducing clients to the benefits of the agile office. Canadian firms are at the leading edge of agile office design.
The term refers to the inherent flexibility and diversity of this type of office configuration. Agile office planning accommodates a mobile workforce and enhances productivity in team environments.
In designing for more flexibility in commercial interiors, Toronto-based Teknion has developed WorkplaceOne. The concept supports exchanges of ideas and information in organizations. It facilitates varying work processes and proposes a diversity of spaces to support creative work in contemporary organizations.
Changing Workplace Environments
Once upon a time, every employee was housed in a cubicle or individual office. These days, there are fewer permanent addresses; not every employee needs a personal work station in a digital workplace.
The average office space used to be 70 percent cubicles and 30 percent collaborative or shared space. Today, that equation is 55 percent cubicles and 45 percent shared space. In the agile office, a hybrid solution often works best: small private rooms for concentrated work, personal work stations in open office settings for team work, and a variety of formal and informal meeting spaces.
Work spaces are simultaneously shrinking: from a standard unit of 8 by 10 feet to one as small as 6 by 6 feet in an open office plan. Work station walls are coming down, to open up views and allow occupants to enjoy natural light.
Research on Productivity
Support for the agile office comes from applied research like that conducted by Stephanie Teasley and associates at the University of Michigan. Researchers studied teams of software programmers who were consigned to a project and located in one room for four months.
The team rooms were equipped with individual work stations and work tables for informal meetings. Each team had access to small private rooms for personal conversations or concentrated work, and conference rooms for formal meetings.
The decision to locate programmers together was based on several factors:
- Pre-design research revealed that software developers spent less than half their time at tasks like programming and coding; the remainder of their day was spent on meetings, problem resolution with team members or clients, product testing, etc.
- Isolated in cubicles, communication between programmers was impaired; researchers found that the further apart team members were, the less they talked to each other.
- The net effect of ineffective communication was that projects habitually came in overtime and exceeded their budgets.
This research confirmed the positive effect of locating employees in a more flexible, open space. Time-to-market, or cycle time for the software programs developed by the teams dropped by one-third as compared to a company baseline. Communication and problem resolution were enhanced by close proximity to others on the team.
Implications for Office Design
Teknion is applying the lessons of applied design research in Workplace One. Clients can choose from a variety of spatial configurations that support agile office planning. Issues of privacy and acoustics are being addressed through smart design using sustainable materials and manufacturing processes.
The benefits to clients are numerous. Their lease space costs go down, a reflection of unnecessary workspaces being eliminated and others shrinking in an open office setting. Communication improves, contributing to better performance at work. Environmental benefits include fewer employees commuting to work and a smaller carbon footprint.
Design of the agile office is a work in progress as Teknion continues to devise new ways of improving the workplace.
Andree Iffrig - Andrée Iffrig LEED AP is a writer and award-winning graduate architect. She uses her broad background in environmental design and ...
