3 Ingredients for Optimizing Office Space
STEPHEN LIS, AIA, CID
Is it time to remodel, expand, or move into a new office space?
Whether you’re moving into a brand-new location or evaluating how to maximize your current quarters, mastering the space management process begins with three critical steps.
Step 1: Collaboration
Working closely with facility operators, management personnel, and stakeholders to produce a logical, cost-effective master plan provides options for future growth and/or consolidation. An architect provides guidance to strengthen your strategic goals and capture the vision of all parties. This collaborative process should be both a top-down and bottom-up approach to understanding how the organization functions.
Step 2: Analysis
Most organizations have a history of organic growth– staff and space are added ad hoc and without slowing down to consider the longer-term vision. Over time, staff responsibilities and positions may have changed, or adjacencies and efficiencies that were once productive have disappeared. In this step, an architectural partner begins the process of collecting and analyzing the data and develops the foundation for an effective master plan. Experience with other clients in the same field, as well as awareness of industry trends offers benchmarking for your organization.
Step 3: Creativity
Taking the information gathered through collaboration and analysis, the architect will develop a menu with options quantifying the amount of space, headcount, and a rough budget/cost of implementation, as well as estimated implementation time frames. The architect provides multiple options and relevant data for the organization to make informed decisions.
The process of optimizing your office space involves bringing a clear vision into focus, generating consensus, and developing a comprehensive master plan.