The Future of the Creative Work Environments - Thesis

THE FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENTS

Done By: Shatha Khalid Altoyan Master of Architecture with an emphasis in interior architecture Spring, 2021

THE FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENTS

A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

by Shatha Khalid Altoyan Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture with an emphasis in interior architecture Spring Semester, 5/2021

Thesis Committee: Primary Advisor/1st Reader: Professor Linda Keane, AIA, AIADO

THE CONTENT

1.

Introduction 1.1 Abstract

2.

Thesis Research 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4.

2.5.

2.6.

2.5.

2.6

3.

Thesis Statement Thesis Questions Thesis Road Map The Creative Work Environment The influence of the physical environment The Elements Of the physical environment The Power of the Workplace COVID-19 Key Insights

Thesis Project 3.1 Phase One: Exploring 1.1 Flex-Tech Design Process 1.2 Flex-Tech Workplace Overview 1.3 Flex-Tech Workplace Elements 3.2 Phase Two : Designing 2.1 About The Office Building 2.2 Site Analysis 2.3 Zoning And programming 2.4 Floor Plans

1

RESEARCH

INTRODUCTION THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTS

1.1. ABSTRACT Workplace design is constantly evolving, exploring and expanding the knowledge base of what constitutes the ‘best office’ space for current economic, technological, and social cultures.

As workplace design evolves, office work environments emerge that are stereotypical, repetitious, and largely uninspiring, disconnecting life from living. Some workers simply come to work certain hours and then go home to be disconnected from work. The repetition of this cycle of living and working, separated from each other, can create issues with human creativity, productivity, and the joy of living.

Companies like Google, WeWork, and Facebook seem to have pushed this trend forward to create a more connected workspace that allows for better social interactions and work-life balance. However, this is a new concept, limited and only focused on the office itself. There is still much more room to grow in terms of designing the “ office of tomorrow.”

Although Covid-19 is one of the greatest global challenges we have faced in modern times-upending every part of our lives, from the domestic environment to the workplace- it also presents a chance to change our world for the better: to rethink our spaces and space-related practices to be more equitable and human-centered.

Research shows that history’s most devastating pandemics pushed societal norms and artistic output toward a more egalitarian direction. “Each epidemic elicited changes in design ethos and philosophy,” says Mette Shenker, a design director at IA. According to Gensler “In the U.S. Workplace Survey 2020, the office was people’s preferred place to work, as long as it was designed to support their work”.

Flexible, multi-location workspaces with diverse spaces for communication, collaboration, and cooperation play an essential role in shaping employees’ creativity and productivity. Since COVID, the benefits of flexibility and access to privacy we have enjoyed while working remotely provide fresh opportunities to rethink, reimagine and redesign the future of the creative places of work. Redefining creativity and productivity in contemporary terms will lead to change in how and where we work best in the future.

2

RESEARCH

THESIS STATEMENT AND QUESTIONS THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTS

2.1. THESIS STATEMENT We think of The Office as the only place where people can work to be productive and creative. COVID-19 has changed this perspective of how and where people can, should, and want to work. How and where people are found to be most productive and how and where people are found to be most creative is altered.

This project will address the topic of future creative work environments while taking into consideration what we have learned from COVID-19. The main question that drives this project is: How to improve the productivity and creativity of the future creative work environments? And how it relates and connects work to life. It is about designing “the office of tomorrow” for the new workforce of millennials that is much more about independence and a self-driven lifestyle. How can we create a flexible work environment that would help to enhance employee’s performance by way of being more connected to life, socially, virtually, and environmentally.

2.2. THESIS QUESTIONS

The Main Question:

How to improve productivity and creativity of the future creative work environments?

The Secondary Questions: ● ● ● ●

What is the creative work environments?

Why we need the physical workplace environment to work ?

What are the Covid-19 key insights ?

How does the design of the office impact opportunities for productivity and creativity ? ○ Where we feel the most productive ? ○ Where we feel the most creative ?

2.3. ROAD MAP

2.4. THE CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT CONNECTION

The creative workplace environment may best be explained through the definition of how to support creativity (LEADON,2015).

CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

CREATIVITY Is “a function of the interrelationships between the individual, the organization, and the physical environment”

COMMUNICATION

COLLABORATION

(Vithayathawornwong, Danko, and Tolbert, 2003,p. 2).

INTERACTION

2.5. FOUR KEY AREAS OF INFLUENCE The World Health Organization developed a model with four key areas of influence that can be addressed to enhance Creativity, Productivity.

2.7. THE POWER OF THE WORKPLACE Today’s workplace has evolved to support and foster precisely the behaviors and interactions that are missing in remote work: bringing people together to work side-by-side, to be immersed in the culture of the organization, to socialize, to build trust, to learn from each other.The workplace enhances:

OFFICE CULTURE

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

PRODUCTIVITY AND WELL-BEING

2.8. THE POWER OF THE WORKPLACE The workplace both reflects and shapes culture.

While the workplace’s influence on behaviors and interactions and its support of work activities are critical performance drivers, its most important contribution to the success of an organization is its impact on culture. The workplace is the physical embodiment of an organization and the most tangible manifestation of its culture, constantly communicating with employees and visitors—both consciously and subconsciously—what the organization is about and what it values.

The equation looks like this: Place shapes behavior, and behavior over time leads to culture. Or, as Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”

Place is a hosting environment for culture, the stage where culture plays out.

The workplace enhances creativity and innovative work.

Creativity is the innate and uniquely human ability to generate ideas, solve difficult problems, identify opportunities and imagine something better In-person collaboration, interaction and face to face communication show more overall creativity and innovation.

Collaboration is an essential place-based business activity that is linked to creativity and innovation. Laddering on each other's thoughts, brainstorming with sticky notes, and taking others along through conversation and whiteboarding all aid in the evolution, distillation, and solidification of new ideas.

When you're not in person, it's easy to miss social signals like body language and other unspoken behaviors.

A key function of the physical work environment is to catalyze social interaction between employees.

The workplace enhances productivity and wellbeing.

Feeling isolated while working from home is the biggest concern people identified and their top reason to return to the office is to connect with people .

The unplanned interaction, physical proximity and socializing with coworkers are not only good for employee’s wellbeing but also help business results — feeling a strong sense of community is the top indicator of people’s productivity, engagement, innovation and commitment to the organization.

COVID-19 KEY INSIGHTS! The Benefits and challenges of working from home experience due to the force of COVID-19.

From the previous research, key insights were identified as primary themes to be addressed with the strategy and guidelines in designing FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE. These insights were found through the data gathered, from interviews, observation, and surveys outlined previously.

FLEXIBLE B E N E F I T S

C H A L L E N G E S

work locations

Less DISTRACTION.

PHYSICAL INTERACTION, COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION with coworkers ( Pin-ups,sketching)

Increase the use of TECHNOLOGY advancement and provide opportunity to communicate, collaborate and interact globally.

Ability to FOCUS and be PRODUCTIVE !

A sense of COMMUNITY and BELONGING.

Reduction in COMMUTING TRIPS to the office

Saving TIME and MONEY.

Easy access to PRIVACY. Health and wellbeing.

Exploring different work mediums.

SUSTAINABILITY!

Understanding the

BODY LANGUAGE while communicating virtually.

INSPIRING SPACES FOR CREATIVITY !

Tools, services and technology.

3

DESIGN PROJECT

THE FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENTS

3.1. THESIS QUESTIONS

● How does the design of the office impact opportunities for productivity and creativity ? ○ Where we feel the most productive ? ○ Where we feel the most creative ?

2.12. ROAD MAP

1

DESIGN PROJECT

THE FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE WORKPLACE

EXPLORING : THE PROPOSED DESIGN PROCESS

1.1 FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE OVERVIEW FLEXIBILITY CHOICE Flex-Tech workplace work to embrace (FLE)XIBILITY and (TECH)NOLOGY as ubiquitous resources and the mindset of employee-experience as a primary focus in the creative work environments.

These individuals should be supported by a workplace that enables choice,Flexibility, greater degrees of collaboration and communication, spaces to support focused work, agility, and mobility, all with higher degrees of social interaction that reflects and shapes the work culture The new workplace platform aims to support the people,their productivity, creativity and well-being,by providing a holistic user experience.

TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTIVITY CREATIVITY WELL-BEING AND HEALTH SUSTAINABILITY

MOBILITY COMMUNITY AND CULTURE USER-EXPERIENCE

1.2 FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE ELEMENTS To Enhance workplace experience and create a flexible and well-designed work environment for the employees to support creativity and productivity we need to focus on two main elements of the creative workplace:

FLEXIBLE INDIVIDUAL WORK LOCATION

FLEXIBLE WORK ENVIRONMENT

1.2.1 FLEXIBLE INDIVIDUAL WORK LOCATION

55% Prefer hybrid work model.

During the pandemic,employees want to return to the office while keeping the benefits of flexibility and access to Privacy they’ve enjoyed while working remotely.

●

The workplace for in-person collaboration.

●

The workplace to collaborate and socialize, and for the long-term positive influence on their Creativity, careers and organizational relationships.

●

Greater flexibility, productivity and access to privacy while working remotely should be reflected in the future workplace.

INDIVIDUAL WORK LOCATION (HYBRID WORK MODEL)

Individual work

Collaborative work (Creativity)

Office

(Productivity)

Office

3rd Place

Home

1.2.1.1 FLEXIBLE INDIVIDUAL WORK LOCATION Working During the Pandemic has Positively Affected Each Factor by Current Work Model:

Personal Creativity

Relationship With Colleagues

Personal Productivity

Ability to Solve Problems

Source: U.S. WORKPLACE SURVEY SUMMER / FALL 2020

1.2.1.2 HYBRID WORK MODEL DIAGRAM

1.2.1.3 TRADITIONAL WORK LOCATION VS FLEXIBLE WORK LOCATION

Traditional Work Location

FLEX-TECH Wok Location

1.2.1.4 THE BENEFITS OF HYBRID WORK MODEL computer/technology Accessible to others set-up

Privacy Cheaper housing renting

Saving money

Staying up to date

Interacting

Flexibility

Collaborating

Saving time

Productivity Less distractions Building office trust

Variety of spaces

HYBRID WORK MODEL

OFFICE

Variety of locations

REMOTE

Reducing Comfortable Commuting trips

Creativity Brainstorming

Tools and services Office culture

1.2.2. FLEXIBLE WORK ENVIRONMENT

The hybrid work model will impact the physical design of the workplace environment.

Because people want flexibility and choice, and The office will skew more heavily toward collaborative spaces and become less focused on individual work.

The density and the us of a space will be measured and designed differently to suit today's needs.

People will go to the office for the things that cannot be done at home, such as social contact,collaboration, libraries, archives, technology, and networks.

The design of the workplace will be increasingly shifting from a space per person to space per work point.and this as a result will increase employee’s productivity and creativity by following the flex-tech workplace criteria:

FLEXIBLE WORK ENVIRONMENT

1.2.2.1. FLEXIBLE WORK ENVIRONMENT DESIGN CRITERIA

In the Flex-Tech workplace, individual and collaborative tasks should be done based on where the employees are the most productive and where they feel the most creative.So, with the advancement of technology and the amount of flexibility we can apply, we need to re-think about how to design the creative workplaces by understanding the user and the four types of knowledge workers in mind: ●

The Anchor

●

The Connector

●

The Gather

●

The navigator.

ACTIVITY- BASED WORK (ABW)

THE MAIN DESIGN PRIORITIES

UNDERSTANDING THE USER

Flex-tech workplace Priorities are: ●

main

Design

Flexibility and adaptability: Allow employees to quickly form, collocate and relocate through the spaces of the physical work environment.

●

Embrace the use of Technology: Technology as the main essential tool and need to be used in a more advanced terms to suit today’s need especially in the creative work environments.

●

Collaboration and concentration: Balancing between individual work.

●

collaborative

and

Work-life Balance: Connect work to life through architecture and technology to enhance employees productivity, creativity and wellbeing.

Activity-Based working environment Is a form of working that is about activating the workplace in a whole new dynamic way by giving a range of different spaces and opportunities which gives employees the choice to choose when, where, and how they wish to work.

Flex-tech workplace will develop it and take it to the next level with taking into consideration the future and the influence of covid-19.

1.2.2.2. UNDERSTANDING THE USER

UNDERSTANDING THE USER

IDENTIFYING WORK STYLES UNDERSTANDING WORK PATTERNS

SURVEYS

OBSERVATION

INTERVIEWS

WORKSHOPS

Providing an electronic survey that explores employee prefered “individual task”places. ( Office, home, cafeshop, third place..)

Conducting an observation exercises to understand employees behavior and work style profiles to identify assignment of work typologies to staff activities.

Interviews with employees to understand their needs of the space in terms of individual and collaborative work.

Workshops with the employees to discuss the new ways of working based on their preferences and how the work should be done.( hybrid work model strategies and guidelines)

ASSIGNING TYPOLOGIES

WORKPLACE STRATEGY Assigning work typologies based on work style desired and work function. Allowing for choice, flexibility and the use of technology.

1.2.2.3. UNDERSTANDING THE USER

Employees Perform Better When They Can Control / Choose Their Space According to gensler workplace survey ”The power of choice and autonomy to drive not only employee happiness, but also,enhance creativity and productivity.

We found that knowledge workers whose companies allow them to help decide when, where, and how they work were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, performed better, and viewed their company as more innovative than competitors that didn’t offer such choices.

Source: U.S. WORKPLACE SURVEY SUMMER / FALL 2020

1.2.2.4. ACTIVITY-BASED WORK ENVIRONMENT (ABW) FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE + (ABW):

Not the old one, the problematic cubicles or the open plan office without taking into consideration the user experience.

Flex-tech workplace is activating the (ABW) in a different way. It is a mix environment of public, open, private and semi-private spaces that allow employees to not only connect with their colleagues and office culture but more importantly expand their connection to the world, life and living in different ways: ● Physically ● Virtually ● Environmentally

Productivity and creativity not only influenced from the inside but also from the outside.

Connecting Work Environment to Life: Physical connection to the surrounding community.

Connecting Work Environment to Life: Virtual Connection to the Outside, The Globe.

Connecting Work Environment to Life: Environmental Connection to Nature.

2

DESIGN PROJECT

THE FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE THE FUTURE OF THE CREATIVE WORKPLACE

DESIGNING : THE FLEX-TECH OFFICE BUILDING

3.2.1 ABOUT THE PROJECT

In the FLEX-TECH WORKPLACE we want to create a physical infrastructure for the creative work environments that enhances collaboration , interaction and innovation by combining different small creative studios into one building .

In doing so, this will provide many advantages in the long term for ll firms: ● ● ● ● ●

Easy cooperation, collaboration and communication.

More inspiring spaces Amenities and services Increase the chances of working nationally and globally.

Different work atmosphere.

is

CAFE WORK! Connect work environment to life through a physical connection to the outside community.

CAFE WORK! Collaboration area. Both the employees and the community use this area to collaborate, communicate and socialize.

CAFE WORK! Meeting area. This area is used by both the employees and the community for informal meetings to meet, discuss and learn.

VIRTUAL MEETING ROOM Space where the wall, an architectural element, used as our window to the world, the globe,

VIRTUAL MEETING ROOM A Touchable wall is an effective way to convey ideas, comments and feedback.

VIRTUAL MEETING ROOM At the same time the virtual room can be transformed into a physical space for collaboration and communication.

INSIDE- OUT WORK AREA Flex Area. Space where employees form and reform based on their needs for collaboration and communication. Supported by lightweight tools and services.

INSIDE- OUT WORK AREA Outdoor Theater area. Space where employees gather for a guest speaker or to work collectively. Supported by a sun shading system to create a comfortable work environment.

THE VIDEO

THE DESIGN SHOW EXHIBITION

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THANK YOU!