Solutions / Design Approach

Efficiency

Multiply the Space Without Expanding the Building

Prioritizing team connectivity and proximity meant ensuring that MSD Wayne Township’s full administrative team could have dedicated space within the renovated Education Center. But since the building was not being expanded – in fact, the exterior of the building wasn’t touched – it was imperative that the new interior spaces were designed as efficiently as possible in order to accommodate the full team. The first step was grouping teams together according to the newand-improved organizational chart and ensuring workplace proximity so that each team could work together to serve the district and its teachers and students more effectively. For example, the human resources, special education, and executive teams each now have dedicated sections on the first floor, and the business team occupies the second floor.

To enable this reorganization, unused and unnecessary spaces such as a large workroom full of defunct office machines, a redundant hallway and showers in the restrooms had been easily sacrificed. Large and inefficient conference rooms were similarly converted into a collection of numerous smaller meeting rooms, which are especially effective for parent conferences or other small group conversations that require privacy. Some individual offices, including the Superintendent’s, were made smaller in order to create more offices as well as more effective shared spaces; everyone with a parallel role on the org chart was intentionally allocated the same square footage. But furnishings such as height adjustable desks, monitor arms, rolling cabinets and carts, and improved individual storage were carefully selected to make up for any perceived loss. And sliding glass doors are featured in many offices in order to occupy as small a footprint as possible.

Storage was also simplified in order to optimize its effectiveness. The team went through the strategic process of evaluating their storage needs, from shortterm necessities that can be kept in personal spaces or in onsite closets, to long-term items that can be stored in an offsite warehouse. That differentiation enabled decisions to be made about how the Education Center’s mail room, storage rooms and individual workstations could be better organized. Clarifying and cleaning up have also created a more effective space for mail and deliveries to be received and processed securely, for supplies to be stored, and for staff to enter and exit the building separately from the public, as they prefer.

The final design included extensive storefront glazing at collaboration spaces and workstations to increase the sense of transparency and access. Numerous breakout meeting areas and spaces for impromptu interactions were developed to foster interdepartmental discussion. Wherever possible, views to the exterior were maintained to draw natural light deep into the building.