Giuseppe BoscheriniBreaking the codified physical and social rigid structures of the traditional office….

Giuseppe Boscherini3rd October 2014

…or “can space trigger behaviour (at work)?”

• Launched in 2013 • An investigation into the co-working model as alternative work setting

The WorkShop report

http://www.cbre.eu/portal/pls/portal/res_rep.show_report?report_id=2914

The WorkShop report

The WorkShop report

The WorkShop report

The WorkShop report

Work evolution• This shows that there has been an evolution in the way we work

and in the physical and social settings that support it.

Mainstreaming of Distributed Work

Scientific Management Model

Rise of Personal ComputingPlural Office with Post-War Expansion

Factory OfficeMerchant/Clerk Landscape Office and the Invention of the Cubicle

Powerful ‘tiggers’• And yes, powerful economic, social and technological triggers for

reinventing workplace have emerged.

“In the workplace of the future, workers will no longer be tied to their desks or even their computing devices. Mobile

broadband, multiple device lifestyles and cross-device computing mean that people will be able to work from

anywhere, seamlessly pulling all business and private data from the Cloud.”

Fujitsu Systems – Vision 2025

Same old office

The Shard: an iconic building?

• However, office typologies remain constrained by a codified approach to space that takes the form of a reliable yet predictable set of spatial and organisational typologies.

• So, whose office is it anyway?

The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work Forwww.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/business/article1379811.ece

It’s (increasingly) about people• Isn’t it about time we looked at workplace from the point of

view of the individual? • Companies are beginning to see the value in responding to

what their talented employees expects,• There have been some gradual shifts.

Shift towards the individual

The Individual

Personal choiceMobility and flexibilitySatisfactionTrust

Business Performance AgilityLower cost Sustainable solution

The Organization

Shift towards agility

anytimeshared use

outputstrust

paper independentface to face

technology an ‘invisible’ enablerconstant collaboration

multiple dimensionsdigital

wirelessanywhere

lifestyle

9 to 5ownershipinputscommand & controlpaper dependentemails, emails, emailstechnology a problemlate, long, formal meetingslinearanaloguehard wiredassignedworkstyle

rigidity agility

Shift towards bespoke spaces that support agile individuals

FlexibilityCreativityInnovationEntrepreneurshipTechnology, Tactical planningOpenness

Spaces that are easily reconfigurableSpaces suitable for a variety of workstylesSpaces that facilitate knowledge transferSpaces for both teams and individualsSpace as a business toolSpaces that support your mission and values

Criteria Spaces

Workplace dichotomies• In seeking to achieve a balance between shifting priorities, we have

created a parallel series of workplace dichotomies:

Rigidity

Standardisation

Efficiency

Permanence

Reassurance

Terrains

Asleep

Physiological

Agility

Customisation

Effectiveness

Mobility

Stimulus

Fields

Alert

Psychological

Workplace dichotomies

mobility

permanence

ubiquitous work

virtual portals

work and play

comfort

me place

preferences

workplace dichotomies

• These dichotomies follow separate routes, according to the degree of mobility or permanence of the individual worker,

• They need to be balanced in order to achieve a coherent workplace experience.

Ubiquitous work• Working on the go is becoming a necessity and work

areas are now offered ‘en route’.• In May 2013, Regus launched a business lounge in a

Welcome Break service station on the M4,• The high-tech Regus Express Hub is located at Membury

Services, ten miles outside Swindon.

the Office Group have an offering in rail stations, and continue to expand -

http://www.theofficegroup.co.uk/the-station-office-network/

Virtual portals• Virtual portals are becoming a window to other realities,• Firmspace have pioneered an avatar-based virtual meeting experience that is both

fun and engaging, unlike much of virtual technology,• Subscribers and meeting invitees simply register via a website, invitees receive an e-

mail, download the 3B browser, and style an Avatar.

Work and play• The 14-hour city is becoming the norm with amenities and places of work intermingled

to form a blurred experiential continuum; the inset image is of Soho House's Pooldisco,• Most of the our buildings lie dormant for half the day and during the weekends. Most

of our lives are too complex to revolve around a 9 to 5 existence,• We need to overhaul the legacy of 19th century physical infrastructure and urban

design rationale and adapt our environments to the networked workstyles of knowledge workers.

Comfort• A positive, even joyous, sensorial experience of space is becoming a key requirement of

offices,• The decisions that lead to good workplace design will be the outcome of a balance between

four factors which are determined by comfort conditions employees demand. These are:1. Physiological 2. Psychological 3. Emotional 4. Physical

• Emotional Mapping is a new and exciting innovative design tool that enables workers and designers to navigate through their emotions, feelings, sentiments and sensations.

Coventry Children Hospital – IBI Nightingale

Me place• There is a return to defensible space as part of re-affirming of status and

marking of ‘owned’ territory,• An example of this trend is the launch of Docklands, a new office concept by

the British design studio Pearson Lloyd. It is “a programme of small independent units designed to provide a range of individual Me Places.”

• A place where “workers can remove themselves from the background noise and distraction associated with the general office when they require a space for total concentration.”

Consumer preferences• Let us imagine workspace as a commodity, if you will, a luxury design commodity that may

be uncomfortable, and pricey at that, but is the one we chose. The personalised workplace will be non-standard and grow out of consumer behaviour,

• There will be a demand from am increasingly discriminating consumer society for more bespoke workplace,

• Offices will be selected on the same basis that hotels currently are. If we, as consumers of workspace, could spend our annual allocation (out of our salary) anywhere, where would we spend it?

Physical Virtual

Behavioural

• Also, the emergence of virtual togetherness has made the balancing of workplace priorities even more difficult,

• This is now a three-ball juggle…

• …which translates into:

Implementingsupportive technology

+ processes

Virtual• Leverage wireless technology,• Promote on-line communication,• Adopt presence awareness.

Nurturing the right

behaviours

Behavioural• Encourage willingness to affect

change,• Foster a sense of community,• Capitalise on shared experiences,• Think of your workplace as a

precious commodity that you must share with others.

Improving the physical

workspace

Physical• Balance space allocation,• Facilitate interaction,• Create destination areas,• Provide a variety of stimulating spaces to perform in.

Can Architecture cure cancer?• There's no great architectural secret at work in

the design of Maggie's Centres. They are defined by positive qualities: light, space, openness, intimacy, views, connectedness to nature – the opposite of a standard-issue hospital environment,

• They are domestic in scale, centred around the kitchen, a place where you can make yourself a cup of tea and have an informal conversation,

• In Jencks's words, they are buildings that hug you, but don't pat you on the head.

Maggie’s Matters Summer Edition 2014 – Kate Goodwin

St Mary Kettering NHS

Recollection & recognition

• Make crucial information obvious,

• Conceal the unnecessary,

• Offer multiple cues,• Make

recognisable/familiar a key principle

• Use high levels of visibility,

• Preserve identity/stimulate memory.

Colour & stimuli

• Colour contrast and tonality are important for people with dementia,

• The knowledgeable use of colour is helpful in creating the most supportive environment for independence and emotional wellbeing,

• The use of colour can help assist the identification of, or alternatively conceal where appropriate, environmental features such as rooms, doorways or service areas.

HAPPINESS HOUSE: how does it translate into the workplace?

“We need a business space that conveys the

energy of the organization”

Space Behaviour

• So, is there a link between space and behaviour, at work?

Space and Behaviour

Space and Behaviour“Today the trend is towards de-institutionalization, hybrid forms of organisation and co-

operative mastery of knowing and knowledge production, towards open expertise produced in multi-actor networks.”

Karvinen-Niinikoski 2004

Physiological Psychological

• Health and wellbeing• Salutogenesis• Sense Sensitive Design

• Psychogeography• Emotional mapping• Feng Shui

• Space and behaviour have different triggers, • But there are major overlaps.

Space and Behaviour

Health and WellbeingAir• Maximize natural ventilation,• Separate ventilation air from thermal conditioning,• Provide task air for individual control, • Ensure pollution source control ,• Improve the quality and quantity of outside air,• Allow individual access to operable windows to

reduce energy use, absenteeism, SBS symptoms, and improve productivity.

Artificial light• Maximize the use of daylighting without glare, • Separate task and ambient light,• Select the highest quality lighting fixtures,• Design plug-and-play lighting and dynamic lighting

zones.Daylight• Comparative studies of day-lit offices and

classrooms demonstrate 10-25%, performance gains, 5-10% reductions in SBS symptoms, and over 30% energy savings

Salutogenesis • Health processes could be strengthened and

promoted by implementing design that is salutogenic – i.e., that focuses on the factors that keep us well, rather than those that make us unwell,

• The aim of psychosocially supportive design is to stimulate the mind in order to create pleasure, creativity, satisfaction and enjoyment,

• There is an important relationship between an individual’s sense of coherence and the characteristics of the physical environment.

Sense Sensitive Design• Understanding of how our five senses work - and

how they interact with the physical environment at work - can have a profound effect on the experience of work places:

1. Vision - Colour provokes hormone release that affects mood, mental clarity, energy levels and body systems,

2. Hearing - Noise affects attention, memory, problem solving and decision making,‐

3. Touch - Plants absorb toxins Airborne toxins, formaldehyde, benzene, carbon, monoxide trichloroethylene etc.,

4. Smell - Floral and fruit fragrances aid concentration, slow respiration, lower blood pressure/heart rate and relax muscles,

5. Taste - Good food and drink improve nutrition, increase energy levels, give pleasure and reduce allergies

Wednesday 27 August 2-14The Independent

Psychogeography

Wanderous is a new navigation application for the iPhone that creates routes optimized for adventure.Routes in Wanderous start and end where the user specifies, but during the journey the routes intentionally wander to one or more interesting, unique, or notable spots chosen by the user.

• Psychogeography is an approach to geography that emphasizes playfulness and drifting (dérive) around urban environments”,

• It's about how we're affected by being in certain places – the architecture, the weather, whom you're with - it's just a general sense of excitement about a place,

• In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual reasons for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and “let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there.” (Guy Debord 1958)“

Emotional mapping• Emotional Mapping is a new and

exciting innovative design tool,• It enables workers and designers

to navigate through their emotions, feelings, sentiments and sensations

Feng ShuiWorkplace Feng Shui Do’s• Place your desk in a position that allows you

to see the door of your office, be sure your back is supported by the wall,

• Stay up to date with repairs and replacements. Representations of nature can help you build trust with co-workers and clients.

Workplace Feng Shui Don’ts• Don’t sit in line with the door,• Don’t keep mirrors in your office,• Don’t keep sharp plants on your desk, as they

create bad chi.

Space Behaviour Space Behaviour

Time

Time Time

Time

Time

Space, behaviour and time• Time is the third element in this equation,• Space and behaviour relate to the moment(s) in time that supports the work

process.

Aligning time to activity

* Source: Russell Foster + Dr. Paul Kelley - 2008

• Certain people have a bio-predisposition to sleep longer in the morning,

• Memory capacity test results show that:1. Morning : 42% correct

answers2. Afternoon: 51%

correct answers• As a result it has been suggested* that

schools adopt shorter winter days to reflect shorter attention spans, energy levels and allow for periods of deep concentration and pauses for resetting circadian clocks

• This could potentially lead to new working hours:

1. Team working - 11:00am to 3:00 pm2. Independent working - either side of

that time period

Aligning space and activity with time• Creative work that leads to innovation is about achieving individual potential,• Like a theatrical or musical performance, creative interaction is a series of

moments in time - a gig - the success of which depends on timing and effect.

Aligning activity to spaces • Co-working practices, mobility and the ensuing connectivity both physical and

virtual, have afforded us now more than ever before access to each other through a number of communication channels, each differently suited to its purpose.

Aligning activity, experience and outcome

• The benefits of a successful workplace are partly derived from the enjoyment of the experience itself as well as from the achievement of tangible outcomes.

Aligning space, activity, behaviour and time

• Work is best achieved in an environment that supports and facilitates the activity designed to yield the desired business outcome,

• Such an environment recognizes and supports the distinct moments of work as it unfolds in its constituent activities,

• The emotional workplace is about an alignment of space and behaviour on an experiential level.

Adaptability• Humans are adaptable to their environments and they are

resourceful to make it work for them,• Is the search for an optimal work habitat futile? • Is transformation an attribute of the worker rather than of the

workspace?

Given a standard (or sub-standard) environment the creative non-conventional

worker will always find creative ways to successfully adapt

The sunlight is in your head. Free up your environment to free up your mind.

Giuseppe Boscherini

Email: giuseppe.boscherini@cbre.com

Mob: 07714 145954

LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/giuseppeboscherini/

Twitter: @gboscherini

Giuseppe Boscherini