Comment Now's the time to do it right!!! (Score 1) 129
With a new lease on life it's the perfect opportunity do it right, and it sounds like having adequate space, and what sounds like an interesting space is a good start. Clearly your intentions sound great it's certainly possible to get away from cube farms and achieve the inspiring workspace your looking for. There are two elements to secure this goal: having an adequate budget: and the knowledge, experience, and creativity of the person who will create the environment.
Finding the right designer is a key element. First of all there's been several comments about architects, designers and decorators. Architects tend to be building people and decorators are exactly that decorators. You want an interior designer, one that has ASID or IIDA credentials, however, just because they have the accreditation doesn't mean they're good. Like any other profession there's good and bad. Unless you've already selected the furniture you want to use it's probably a good idea to steer clear of designers that work for furniture dealers. Using them is like, "hiring the fox to guard the hen house." You want a designer that's free of ties with any particular supplier of equipment. Interviewing a designer should be as intense as hiring an employee. You need to see their portfolio, visit sites they created for other companies, and talk with a few of their clients.
A good designer will propose to you that they interview all the employees in your organization. They need to know and understand your business as well as you do, but from a different perspective. Their first step after the interviewing process should be to create a relationship diagram, to place the people where they need to be in relation to one another. This is paramount to a good design so don't fluff it off. This is the phase called, "space planning." It's here where you will get the basic idea of how the work flows through the space. Core areas will be determined such as conference rooms, cafeteria/lounge, toilets, and private offices, storage, electrical/mechanical areas, etc. Typically this should be central to the space, and depending on the space should be central to the core of the building. These areas will likely be at he inner core of the building not on the outside windows, but they can be treated with glass walls to allow light in and so they have a vantage point of the office and view of the exterior of the building.
With the data collected from each individual the designer should be able to create a variety of workspaces that will meet the needs of the individual workers, and with some minor adjustment tailor them to each individuals needs. It's here that you should begin looking at the type of furnishings you wish to use. Designers are knowledgeable but aren't always aware of everything that's in the market. You can help them by doing some of your own research. There should be uniformity, but with the adaptability of meeting the needs of each individuals job function. This is where most companies get in trouble with cubicles. Because there are so many parts and peaces, sizes and colors companies will standardize for the purposes of simplicity for facility management personnel, and sacrifice the efficiency and needs of the workers.
For a good designer "the space talks to them," this may sound strange, but it's true, a good designer listens to the space and creates an environment from the space that works for the client.
Be sure the designer takes field dimension of the space. Don't allow them to simply work from building plans. Many a costly problem occurs from a designer not having good drawings to work with.
If you don't find a designer that works through this process keep looking. I can't emphasize enough how important this is--that is unless you don't have a budget to hire a designer. If this is the case you or someone in your company needs to put their regular job on hold for a few months and take this on themselves. Likely this will result in a thankless mission.
Once the space planning is complete it's imperative to have good Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning plans to insure good air quality and avoid drafts, ideally employees should have control over their environment. Furthermore high quality and hopefully individual control over light levels is ideal and having sufficient electrical power, and data services can't be overlooked. Don't overlook flexibility, there's no doubt you will need to change the office layout from time to time because your business will change, these services will need to change and can be costly to modify if not planned properly in the beginning.
When selecting furniture be certain it works with the image of your business and is a symbol of the quality work you provide your clients. Appealing offices send an important message to existing and potential clients. Furthermore, the office should be functional and appealing to retain the staff you have and to attract new talented people.
Ergonomics is crucial to employee health, productivity and attitude; this is not a place to skimp. $100 chairs don't work for people that sit in them all day. You need to have chairs and stations that are easily adjustable, and user friendly. If you're a 24/7 operation or people share stations, you need to explore stations that are quickly adjustable from person to person.
The world of computer equipment is changing rapidly, the furniture you purchase needs to be adaptable. Keep in mind desk and chair configurations where created for people that were using "quill pens and sealing wax," and aren't computer friendly.
Acoustics is another important issue, having 12 foot ceilings is good, but clearly the walls and ceiling need to be treated. If the ceiling is open and leaves ductwork and lighting exposed there's different techniques for handling acoustics. Wall acoustics if applicable basically are most effective in the 3 foot to 7 foot range. Floor covering if any really only handles footfall noise. You may want to or need to introduce sound masking which can become disturbing. Therefore, the space planning needs to be done with acoustical issues in mind.
As far as other items are concerned, such as color, be careful there's a lot of psychology to color, let your designer help in this category. A variety of neutrals with an occasional splash of color works well as long as you let artwork and plants bring life to the space.
You should have an internal committee of 2 or 3 people that have the responsibility to review the designers work stages and give approvals on an as need basis. These approvals are crucial to a quality end result. Remember the time you invest in the upfront planning will be repaid tenfold in the time you spend in the space. So give yourself enough time to design and construct the space.
Overall, what you do should last for 10 years.
It's great you're going from 100 sq.ft. per person to 250 sq.ft per person but you'll continue to grow so be sure your designer knows of your expansion plans and plans the space accordingly.
This space is your home away from home; it pays for the home at home, and therefore deserves an equal amount of attention.
Hope this gives you some guidelines and isn't to late!
Finding the right designer is a key element. First of all there's been several comments about architects, designers and decorators. Architects tend to be building people and decorators are exactly that decorators. You want an interior designer, one that has ASID or IIDA credentials, however, just because they have the accreditation doesn't mean they're good. Like any other profession there's good and bad. Unless you've already selected the furniture you want to use it's probably a good idea to steer clear of designers that work for furniture dealers. Using them is like, "hiring the fox to guard the hen house." You want a designer that's free of ties with any particular supplier of equipment. Interviewing a designer should be as intense as hiring an employee. You need to see their portfolio, visit sites they created for other companies, and talk with a few of their clients.
A good designer will propose to you that they interview all the employees in your organization. They need to know and understand your business as well as you do, but from a different perspective. Their first step after the interviewing process should be to create a relationship diagram, to place the people where they need to be in relation to one another. This is paramount to a good design so don't fluff it off. This is the phase called, "space planning." It's here where you will get the basic idea of how the work flows through the space. Core areas will be determined such as conference rooms, cafeteria/lounge, toilets, and private offices, storage, electrical/mechanical areas, etc. Typically this should be central to the space, and depending on the space should be central to the core of the building. These areas will likely be at he inner core of the building not on the outside windows, but they can be treated with glass walls to allow light in and so they have a vantage point of the office and view of the exterior of the building.
With the data collected from each individual the designer should be able to create a variety of workspaces that will meet the needs of the individual workers, and with some minor adjustment tailor them to each individuals needs. It's here that you should begin looking at the type of furnishings you wish to use. Designers are knowledgeable but aren't always aware of everything that's in the market. You can help them by doing some of your own research. There should be uniformity, but with the adaptability of meeting the needs of each individuals job function. This is where most companies get in trouble with cubicles. Because there are so many parts and peaces, sizes and colors companies will standardize for the purposes of simplicity for facility management personnel, and sacrifice the efficiency and needs of the workers.
For a good designer "the space talks to them," this may sound strange, but it's true, a good designer listens to the space and creates an environment from the space that works for the client.
Be sure the designer takes field dimension of the space. Don't allow them to simply work from building plans. Many a costly problem occurs from a designer not having good drawings to work with.
If you don't find a designer that works through this process keep looking. I can't emphasize enough how important this is--that is unless you don't have a budget to hire a designer. If this is the case you or someone in your company needs to put their regular job on hold for a few months and take this on themselves. Likely this will result in a thankless mission.
Once the space planning is complete it's imperative to have good Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning plans to insure good air quality and avoid drafts, ideally employees should have control over their environment. Furthermore high quality and hopefully individual control over light levels is ideal and having sufficient electrical power, and data services can't be overlooked. Don't overlook flexibility, there's no doubt you will need to change the office layout from time to time because your business will change, these services will need to change and can be costly to modify if not planned properly in the beginning.
When selecting furniture be certain it works with the image of your business and is a symbol of the quality work you provide your clients. Appealing offices send an important message to existing and potential clients. Furthermore, the office should be functional and appealing to retain the staff you have and to attract new talented people.
Ergonomics is crucial to employee health, productivity and attitude; this is not a place to skimp. $100 chairs don't work for people that sit in them all day. You need to have chairs and stations that are easily adjustable, and user friendly. If you're a 24/7 operation or people share stations, you need to explore stations that are quickly adjustable from person to person.
The world of computer equipment is changing rapidly, the furniture you purchase needs to be adaptable. Keep in mind desk and chair configurations where created for people that were using "quill pens and sealing wax," and aren't computer friendly.
Acoustics is another important issue, having 12 foot ceilings is good, but clearly the walls and ceiling need to be treated. If the ceiling is open and leaves ductwork and lighting exposed there's different techniques for handling acoustics. Wall acoustics if applicable basically are most effective in the 3 foot to 7 foot range. Floor covering if any really only handles footfall noise. You may want to or need to introduce sound masking which can become disturbing. Therefore, the space planning needs to be done with acoustical issues in mind.
As far as other items are concerned, such as color, be careful there's a lot of psychology to color, let your designer help in this category. A variety of neutrals with an occasional splash of color works well as long as you let artwork and plants bring life to the space.
You should have an internal committee of 2 or 3 people that have the responsibility to review the designers work stages and give approvals on an as need basis. These approvals are crucial to a quality end result. Remember the time you invest in the upfront planning will be repaid tenfold in the time you spend in the space. So give yourself enough time to design and construct the space.
Overall, what you do should last for 10 years.
It's great you're going from 100 sq.ft. per person to 250 sq.ft per person but you'll continue to grow so be sure your designer knows of your expansion plans and plans the space accordingly.
This space is your home away from home; it pays for the home at home, and therefore deserves an equal amount of attention.
Hope this gives you some guidelines and isn't to late!
