Placemaking & the Redefined Office
(This article, in slightly different form, originally appeared in BOMA Magazine.)
“It’s a sign of the changing times.” In a nutshell, that’s how Corwin Holland, RPA, CPM, CCIM, senior property manager of Columbia Property Trust and property manager at Market Square in Washington, DC, sums up the new role of the corporate office.
There was a time, not too long past, when the shape and look of an office figured little in someone’s job hunt. And while nothing ever trumps salary and benefits, increasingly job candidates are factoring into their selection process how the office environment supports a full range of wants and needs.
Due, at least in part, to that trend, corporate occupiers are using their spaces as a metaphor for much more--namely, their brand and culture. Landlords too are getting on the bandwagon, imbuing common spaces with amenities ranging from fitness centers to dry cleaning and extending what is increasingly being known as the “workplace experience.” Today, having a class A building, devoid of such creature comforts, is simply not enough.
But there’s more to the elevation of the workplace above its traditional role of merely providing people a place to sit. Beyond hiring and retaining top talent, the workplace is finally acknowledging that lines are blurring between the workday and the rest of our never-unplugged lives. Amenities that can help workers be more effective (such as choices of where to sit); or help with personal chores (think shoe shines or grocery shopping); or encourage interaction (like in a cafe or well-stocked lunchroom), help occupier and employee alike. Landlord support of those wants and needs, therefore, only makes good business sense.
Such offerings, no matter how expansive or budget constrained, “introduce elements of hospitality to the workplace,” says Matt Gammel, a senior Gensler associate (and member of the Los Angeles BOMA chapter’s Government Affairs committee). “That solid division between what is work and what isn’t work is breaking down. So, we need to provide places where people can enjoy their work.”
It’s happening at Market Square, for instance, where Holland reports a multi-million-dollar renovation of what was once a staid and traditional lobby. The above-mentioned fitness center is already in, and a conference center is currently in the works with plans set “for a few other things,” says Holland. We’ll have more on Market Square shortly.
A SENSE OF PLACE
The elevation of the office is also called placemaking, a term usually applied to cities looking to humanize urban acreage with gathering spots for its inhabitants, be it a pocket park or bike path. But the private-sector version isn’t just a marketing tool to attract and retain talent. It is a reflection of the way work is evolving, into a largely collaborative concept with people moving from space to space depending on the nature of their work that day, to encourage the chance encounters that foster ideas and provide ample space and flexibility for heads-down or team work.
“Placemaking is a nice metaphor for how we want the office to function,” says Georgia Collins, co-lead of CBRE’s Workplace practice. “In cities we have places where people gather and the community comes together, such as parks or civic spaces. In offices there are similar ideas in cafe spaces or hubs. There are a lot of great parallels to be drawn between what makes great cities and the creation of purpose-built office spaces.”
The concept also goes by another name--the Google-ization of the office, referring of course to the tech giant’s nap rooms and foosball tables. That’s probably the least accurate of all the names and for two reasons. First, not every company has a Google-sized budget and, second, not every company has the culture. Placemaking risks a quick death if it’s merely a copycat effort.
“The culture piece and how the workplace is designed and provisioned need to be connected,” says Collins. “That’s the difference between organizations that get their workplace right and those that don’t. If we as an organization value people getting work done effectively, then our workspace needs to say we’re going to give you choice because you can’t get everything done in one space. We will give you the environment and the technology to optimize your performance.”
CBRE is just one of the providers interviewed for this article that practices what it preaches, in its Workplace360 program. “By rethinking how we allocate space and implementing a new level of service, we’ve been able to reduce our footprint, increase the variety of work settings and invest more heavily in the technologies and tools our people need to do better work,” CBRE Workplace360 program manager Cicily Dostalek told Bisnow earlier this year. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bisnow/2017/05/03/cbres-new-office-design-is-a-game-changer/#5213d616220f
Holland lays much of the impetus behind the current rethinking of the office at the doorstep of a new generation of worker. And indeed, millennials care about such things as wellness, a sense of socialization at work and amenities that help support a better work/life balance. The relatively youthful demographic of Google and the tech industry in general certainly helps couch the conversation in millennial tones.
But other generations care as well. “I’m an Xer, and I care,” says Collins. The movement “coincides roughly with the millennial ascendancy but it’s not exclusively that. It’s what we all expect from the work environment.”
THE SPACE RACE
Whatever the origin, the office of today is competing for workers’ attention, competing not only with other employers but also with Starbucks and WeWorks and even home, anywhere an employee can plug in and be productive. The joint message of building owners, managers and occupiers is clear: “There’s still value in the office, in the interaction and the ability of different groups to work together, cooperating and sharing experiences and ideas,” says John Scott, RPA, BOMA Fellow and managing director of real estate management services in Florida for Colliers International.
It’s also competing with itself. There’s been a more-with-less ethic that occupiers have embraced pretty much since the recession, resulting in tighter spaces, less square footage and a densification of the workplace. In fact, according to 2013 CoreNet Global statistics, the square footage per office worker shrunk from 225 in 2010 to 150 or less. Understanding how people work can help occupiers better manage those spaces.
Colliers also recently turned the tables on itself and upgraded its Tampa, Orlando and Clearwater offices. Scott says they used a consultant, Gensler, to study usage patterns that resulted in a practical, efficient design.
To that point, Scott says that the space search for professional services companies once took about six months. “Today you need to start a year in advance because you need a consultant to analyze your business. You don’t know what you don’t know, like where productivity actually occurs. And it doesn’t necessarily come from an office or workstation. It can come from open-air meetings or chance encounters. It’s the idea that creates the value.”
One of the things they didn’t know was that, “our people sit at their desks less than 60% of the time,” he says. Shared space is one obvious solution, one that extends to all levels of the hierarchy. “The president, the chief marketing officer and myself share one office, because each of us is in the space less than 30% of the time, which speaks to densification. In two years we’ve probably conflicted 10 times. Based on our movement models, we realized we needed only one office.”
Interestingly, Gensler itself also looked inward when, in 2011, it relocated its Santa Monica offices to downtown Los Angeles, and, much like Colliers in the East, found similar results in the West. Gammel says the architecture and design firm wisely uses its own spaces as a sort of “laboratory. For our relocation, we did a survey of butts in conference room seats. We found we were using them only 38% of the time. That’s a lot of unused real estate to be paying for in Santa Monica.
Today, the Gensler spaces actually exist in two adjacent buildings, made effective by a bridge that, according to a blog the firm put out at the time, “transforms two floors into flexible, connective space, and results in a 95,000-square-foot creative office space for our teams.”
DENSIFICATION’S UPSIDE
Densification gets a rather bad wrap these days, calling up visions of people shoehorned into cubbies for the sake of cost-cutting. But, done right, it could feed the placemaking concept.
“Just as cities are vibrant places because of their density,” says Collins, “offices are also more exciting places to be when they have some level of density. They become more vibrant, where you’re more likely to run into people, have those hallway conversations and get help solving a problem. When we ask our clients to define what success looks like, almost everyone at some point says, ‘I want a sense of buzz, a sense that there is something taking place there.’ That won’t happen when there are empty cubes between you and the next person. Density is getting value for the money and leveraging the mobility and activity of people to greater effect in the environment.”
Take Ken Crerar, president and CEO of the Counsel of Insurance Agents and Brokers (CIAB). Crerar, earlier this year, upgraded his space at Market Square, working hand-in-hand with Corwin Holland, Josh Hildreth and Mitra Noorbakhsh, formerly of ZGF Architects, to achieve his vision of a more collaborative, out-of-the-box space that also worked within the parameters of the CIAB culture and the building’s operational parameters.
CIAB had roughly 18,000 square feet, of which 3,500 was sublet. By taking that space back and trimming the number of conference rooms and private offices (only two people of the 12-person management team have offices. Ken isn’t one of them), they were able not only to create a cool, open space but also increase the number of people populating that space--from 38 to 55, and that can balloon up to a comfortably seated 80 during special events.
As we said, not everyone can follow the Google model. Nor should they. “We wanted our space to look attractive and enhance our brand,” Crerar says. “We wanted to create a space we could use for luncheons, dinners and events for the different stakeholders we influence in DC, whether its political people or policy people. I didn’t want it to be Romper Room,” he stated frankly, a reference to the iconic kid’s TV program.
But adults like to have fun too, even if foosball isn’t their thing. Again, good design reflects culture. “What we did want was something professional that would fit within the context of Market Square, which is a high-end trophy asset,” and a BOMA 360-designated building. Fun in a grown-up context means a barista ready to serve guests and staff as they enter (there is no receptionist at CIAB) and views of the Mall, from the White House to the Washington Monument, visible not just to perimeter offices, for there are none, but from virtually everywhere in the environment.
And clouds. “Ken wanted clouds,” says Josh Hildreth. That sounds like pure whimsey, but there was practicality behind it. The space has very low ceiling heights. Pyrok clouds that appear throughout the space, while visually attractive, serve the dual purpose of distracting people from the low ceilings and absorbing sound, a must in an open office.
For building management, those clouds presented some of the redesign’s biggest challenges. “On receiving the design, we had to make sure it worked for the operation of the property,” says Holland. “The ceilings were a challenge, especially the HVAC. We had to make sure it could operate accordingly, maximize its performance and keep their people happy. They took our comments in stride and we made sure it all came out properly. That’s a testament to teamwork throughout.”
How successful was it? “Market Square was built almost 30 years ago,” says Holland, “and the overall feel was that of an older law firm. Ken broke the mold with this concept. We welcomed it with open arms, worked closely with him to make it happen, and today we tour their space all the time with prospective tenants. It’s become a snapshot of what you can do here.”
He adds that the timing of upgrades being made in the lobby and the tenant space are pure coincidence. But together, they tell a consistent and compelling story to those prospects.
PLACEMAKING ON A BUDGET
Designer Hildreth and occupier Crerar both discuss the high-end finishes and curated artwork that, along with those clouds, help give the CIAB space its unique look. There’s even a conference/gathering table made from trees that fell on nearby Mount Vernon, trees probably planted by George Washington himself. But these design features are less a function of deep pockets than they are careful shopping.
“I didn’t pay any less or any more than anyone else,” Crerar explains. “We didn’t pay any more because I carefully spec’d out fabrics and finishes. The coffee area, for instance, was made by a restaurant company and was no more expensive than any standard office supplier. We did a lot of custom stuff but we looked carefully at what we put in.”
“You can have a great workplace without an amazing budget,” says CBRE’s Collins. “You can provide every amenity under the sun and at considerable cost or pick and choose those that are meaningful to your organization and people.” Sometimes it can be as easy--and economical--as making certain services or vendors accessible to employees, “even if it’s at their personal cost.”
It can also be as easy--and cost-effective--as opening a door. “The space we leased in Tampa has a balcony that opens up to an atrium,” says Collier’s Scott. “But the previous occupants didn’t utilize their balcony. They kept the door shut. We incorporated it into the space, so now people can sit out there, listen to the fountains and see the greenery. It makes the environment much more relaxed, like a living room.”
Budgets obviously are equally important to building management and ownership, especially when the conversation turns to smaller or class B buildings. “We’re seeing a lot of landlords struggling with this idea because not everyone is a Google,” says Gensler’s Gammel.
Georgia Collins agrees. A few common-area amenities “can be a great equalizer between buildings,” she says. “You don’t have to have a class A asset. Rather, it’s about curating the experience for tenants. You can have a smaller class B building provide a really great suite of services.”
It’s an equalizer as well for smaller tenants. “If ownership, for instance, installs a coffee kiosk,” says Gammel, “even a 5,000-square-foot tenant can take advantage of these amenities. For landlords, it’s about servicing your tenancy. For occupiers, it’s about servicing your mission by servicing your employees.”
Whatever the age of those employees, he says, we’re dealing today with an increasingly “purpose-driven workforce.” Whether it’s building management or the occupier itself, “when you can nail what your purpose is through analytics and then design a space with those parameters in mind, you can have a high-performance workplace. And you can do so cost effectively.”
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