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Maximizing work space boosts productivity, teamwork
Washington Business Times
by Mike Cleary

A law office in Georgetown was transformed into a computerized order-taking center a month ago when Varsitybooks.com moved into 1050 Thomas Jefferson Street.

The fast-growing company had just two weeks to plan a move that needed to fit into a critical two-hour window that was as long as the Internet bookseller could afford to shut down its telecommunications lifeline, said Lance Jaccard, an architect and principal with O’Brien Travis Jaccard, the District-based interior design firm that planned the move.

The movers filled the 10,000 square feet with 50 cubicles, split a large conference room to create a computer order center and hooked it all up to a new T-1 telecommunications line, he said. Then Varsitybooks.com went back into business.

Not every company needs to be so nimble when it moves, but it highlights how companies need to be more flexible in the way they use their space. Technology, mergers and organizational changes is driving companies to rethink the space they use – even when they are not moving.

"There’s a real ecology to real estate," said Steve Polo, a partner in Oldham + Partners OPX. "Now it’s becoming a tool for how the business is organized and their people are treated. A space form someone can actually be a tool for recruiting someone," he said.

That’s especially true for high-tech companies that want their employees to think collaboratively and feel comfortable enough not to look for work elsewhere.

"We’re planning to have what they call a ‘family room.’ It’s a place where everybody gets together for things that aren’t particularly work-related. It’s a place to relax and center yourself," Mr. Polo said.

There are no one-size-fits-all solutions, space planners agree. The family-room concept would not work at a buttoned-down law firm, he said.

However, as competition increases from consultants and accounting firm, law firms often find they need to make better use of their offices, and there are ways to do this without sacrificing image, he said.

"We’ve tried to gauge their culture and make recommendations to extent that their culture can bear those changes," he said.

Space planners can help companies achieve goals of increasing productivity and collaboration, said Debra Lehman-Smith, a partner with Lehman-Smith Wiseman, a District-based architectural firm.

For example, Bethesda-based Federal Realty Investment Trust deliberately moved out of a traditional headquarters on several floors to a more open facility relying more on cubicles and incorporating an "employee café" to encourage collaboration, she said.

Her firm also helped General Dynamics in Fairfax County adjust its image through a renovation that relocated staff. In the process it reunited many managers with their departments, which had been separated as the company grew, she said.

The change is even filtering down to furniture and the furniture business, said Bernard Crocker, president of Largo-based U.S. Business Interiors, which sells office furnishings and "systems."

In the 1940s, office workers measured their output in plain volume – reams of paper – so it made sense to work at cedar desks.

"Today’s output is still documented, but it’s more of a knowledgeable product," he said. "It changes the way offices support that. It requires a lot of teaming, creating spaces where collaborative thinking can take place."

Not only have modular furniture products become popular, the manufacturers and sellers are moving toward providing a range of fixtures and appliances that can be combined in different ways to complete an office.

"We’re talking about the lighting, electrical, walls, ceilings, floors, all the stuff that it takes to build a cold, dark shell into a finished work environment," he said.

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