Recently, two of my colleagues pulled off a surprise baby shower for me, all while sitting in an open office environment. Needless to say, I was completely surprised! As you can probably imagine, a lot of work goes into planning a surprise party. Granted, some of it can be done through good ole’ e-mail communication, but at some point, all that scheming has to occur somewhere beyond that.  

So, how did two people that sit immediately to my left and right, without any walls or workstation panels separating us, pull this off?  This can’t be easy in any work environment, but somehow they were able to keep it a secret. So, does this mean it’s possible to have private conversations and work on top secret information in an open office environment without your surrounding colleagues hearing or seeing your work? Well, it definitely seemed to work in this situation.  
As my colleague Jodi Williams and I continue to embark on a journey to debunk open office myths, here we present you with busted myth #1: You can’t have private conversations or work on confidential information while sitting in an open office work environment.
 
Now, I know some of you out there may still find this to be a challenging issue, especially if you are sitting in an open office and shouldn’t be because of the nature of your work OR because you don’t have access to private spaces, etc. We heard you…we’ve been reading all of your comments and blogs on the internet [...]

Don’t just work from home. Creep out your employees from a distance!
I saw this article recently about the robot that visits your cubicle. Advertised as a “telepresence robot”, Anybots aim to connect workers more seamlessly through the use of video cameras, still camera and a microphone. The basic concept is that, working anywhere from a laptop, you can log into one of these robots which reside in your office and the robot essentially becomes your “avatar”. Your Anybot can zip around the workplace interacting with coworkers; stopping by your desk, sitting in on meetings or impromptu collaboration sessions, heading over to the factory to see what’s coming off the production line, etc. The video demonstration on their website gives you the idea.
While I do see some of the fundamental advantages of “Robot Boss”, I still can’t help but think of all the hilarious and awkward scenarios that could play out in our workplace culture:

It looks like a Segway had a one night stand with a vacuum cleaner. I hope the cleaning staff doesn’t try to use Robot Boss to buff the floors.
People will definitely dress up Robot Boss in embarrassing clothing. Mine would have a handlebar mustache and dress accordingly for the seasons and holidays. 
If you put a piece of paper over the sensors, can you laugh as Robot Boss crashes into walls because it can’t see straight?
Will people eventually prefer Robot Ross to in-person boss? If in-person boss wears cheap cologne, then yes.
I’d like to see Robot Boss take a client out to lunch. Good luck catching a cab, Robot Boss!
I’d be freaked out if [...]

I really appreciate simple charts, graphs, information in general. This Fast Company Infographic is equal parts: accurate / straightforward / funny. It boils down worker personalities into three categories based on how much you work and how much you talk. Created by designer Joey Roth, the poster doesn’t aim to analyze the information but rather act as a jumping off point for further conversation.

Simple infographics like this are a great reminder that your organization is full of a diverse group of individual work styles that often perform better in different settings. But still as Designers we continue to see offices being designed with one, maybe two varieties of workstation specifications. With workers coming in every shape, size and style it’s crazy to think we’re sometimes delivering such limited solutions. Granted, you can find TONS of styles and configurations for the numerous workstations on the market, and there are always those forward thinking/early-adapter clients but when it comes down to it, Designers (and clients) tend to play it safe and hassle-free, because the work it takes to specifcy (Designer) and then maintain (Client/Facilities) multiple varieties of workstations for a single project would be a logistical headache.
I’ve seen a good deal of new workplace furniture trends that are moving in the right direction to support various work personalities, but it also takes the Designer and Client buy-in to actually get these solutions implemented. We joke about things like Dilbertville and yes, we’ve convinced clients to take down high furniture panels, but some clients are hesitant and we end up seeing most people sitting in [...]

As we’ve been working on this blog, we keep seeing the same few search terms come up: workplace trends, workplace 2010, innovations in workplace, etc.  To help answer some of these questions, we thought we would reach out to some of our colleagues, clients and friends and ask them about some of their workplace experiences.  Today is the first post in that series, and features HOK Washington, DC’s own Amy Fabry. 
What is your current role?  I am a Senior Interior Designer in the Washington, DC studio.
What would you say are current “trends” when it comes to the workplace?  Cram as many people in as possible. 
Seriously, many of our corporate clients recognize that there is a large portion of their employees that do not need a dedicated desk or private office, so they are moving towards a shared open office environment where workstations are not assigned to any person in particular.  While this “trend” has been around for a while, we are seeing our clients getting more daring with their sharing ratios and providing more “private” areas in return.  These private areas are generally small, unreserved rooms for one to two people to have a private conversation, take a phone call or conduct a conference call without disrupting others seating in open office areas. 
Another trend I see is the return of the lunchroom.  This isn’t your elementary school lunchroom, it’s a destination space with finishes and details that rival some of your favorite restaurants.  The key is to create a space [...]

 
Interesting conceptual project from textile designer Celine Marcq: reactive wallcovering that abstractly visualizes energy use. The idea is that your wall can help indicate how much electricity you are using, ideally making us all more conscious in general. This would be especially helpful for those people who have bad habits of leaving everything plugged in. The ambient light is a reminder that even though something isn’t turned on, if it’s plugged in it’s still pulling in electricity. Gets rid of the whole “out of sight, out of mind” mentaility that gets us in trouble in oh so many instances.

Monitoring and displaying energy isn’t necessarily a brand new concept. Several quality companies are leading the effort to track energy usage. My colleague David Ivey recently posted on HOK Life about measures we’re taking in our Chicago office, implementing  Lutron Quantum and EcoSystem to monitor and display energy usage. These measures have helped our Chicago office be recognized as one of the top ten LEED projects in 2009 according to Interiors and Sources Magazine
The reactive wallcovering is definitley a step in a more aesthetic direction to keep us informed of energy usage. I’m sure pretty soon our offices will be these Matrix-esque environments displaying all types of information. Hopefully the visual overload won’t be too seizure-inducing. I would like to hear of any other examples of aesthetic ways to monitor energy or raise awareness that any of you readers have come across.

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The Builders Association is a leading trade association serving the commercial construction industry in Chicago. They are a reliable source to keep up on relevant issues in the local construction community. I was recently asked to write an article for their June newsletter to discuss how the Architecture and Design community is viewing the current state of the market, what firms are doing to weather the economic storm and what market sectors look to have growth in 2010. Check out the article here: School’s In

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My workstation has been getting very messy lately. I’m going through the CA (Construction Administration) phase on a project and my desk has suddenly been bombarded with stacks of paperwork, rolls of drawings and product samples. I’ve started a bad habit (one of my pet peeves) of putting junk on the floor next to my workstation. I HATE crap on the floor. Drives me nuts. Why can’t there be a perfect little spot to store everything? I keep thinking “this is just temporary. No biggie. Once we get through this phase of the project my desk will be back to it’s normal, organized, peacful state”. But then I’ve been noticing others around me also have this habit of keeping stuff on the floor next to their desk. For some people it’s not temporary. It’s a horrible way of life. On the one hand I can chalk it up to the creative process (we’re designers, creating cool stuff, we can’t be TOO organized, we feed off that creative chaos, right?). But then I realize that it’s not “creative chaos”, it’s  just ”too much crap” chaos. People simply have too much junk and never enough space to keep it all organized. So I grabbed my camera and went around to see how people are handling (or mishandling) their junk. Some aren’t so bad but some people can use a lot of help.
And I’ll ask the rest of you readers…what do you do with all YOUR crap? Send in your photos!

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The way a space communicates a basic message suggests a lot about the overall design.  Were the details well-considered, or were these last-minute items forgotten?  Is there a clear concept throughout the space?  Is the guest experience welcoming?  Will you be back?
The following are some noteworthy restroom signs I’ve captured over the past few weeks.

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I’m fortunate in working almost right under a skylight.  Whenever the sun shines like it is today, my spirits lift.   What kind of light do you have at work?  How does it effect you?
One of the best books I’ve seen that begins to capture the look of different kinds of light inside buildings and how it effects us is Light Revealing Architecture by Marietta S. Millet published in 1996.  There must be more books or websites like this out there – any suggestions?
 

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I first read about this a few months ago and was fascinated with the idea. The Mars 500 project is a research endeavor that aims to simulate obstacles that a manned mission to Mars would experience, including stress, claustrophobia, fatigue.
Video: Locked & Sealed: 520 days, 6 men, 1 bunker
Six participants will spend a total of 520 days in a series of modules, part of an isolation facility in Moscow.
During the isolation period the candidates will be simulating all elements of the Mars mission, travelling to Mars, orbiting the planet, landing and return to Earth.
The crew will have to be self-reliant, and organise a great deal of their daily tasks. They will be responsible for monitoring and maintaining the health and psychological states of themselves and each other, monitoring and controlling and maintaining systems, including life support, control resource consumption, carry out standard and non-standard cleaning and maintenance, as well as fulfilling scientific investigations.
The other interesting catch…all communication will be on a 20 minute delay to simulate the delays that would be anticipated travelling so far away. Makes my spotty cell phone service not seem so bad, I suppose.
I’m curious to see the research findings on the psychological and physical effects of this experiment and if there are any takeaways in terms of how the “human factors” will ultimately help shape the design and experience of the physical living/working conditions.
Looking at the photos of the facility my first thought was “wow…wood paneling!”. My second thought [...]