{"id":491761,"date":"2020-01-15T16:03:19","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T21:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/?p=491761"},"modified":"2023-01-14T00:45:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-14T05:45:09","slug":"little-diversified-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Diversified Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

What makes shared spaces appealing beyond their vibe? What features cause some to be more desirable, more effective and a smarter use of space than others? Can these spaces really change how people work for the better \u2013 and improve how they feel about their work and their organization?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s questions like these that Little, a leading international architecture and design firm, wanted to explore when they had the opportunity to expand and reconfigure their Washington, D.C., office. Like so many organizations today, their workplace is mostly open plan. Meeting spaces were large, formal conference rooms. Access to smaller meeting rooms, focus spaces or informal spaces for impromptu conversations was extremely limited. Although employees reported that it was easy to collaborate spontaneously in the open plan, they also expressed that a lack of privacy and noise were a problem. In addition to needing additional space to hire more people, company leaders saw the expansion as an opportunity to create different kinds of spaces that would give employees more choices – particularly for team and individual focus work – and address some wellbeing benefits, like the ability to alter postures in their workspaces.<\/p>\n

\"Two
The addition of five focus spaces resulted in a 14% increase in employees\u2019 perceptions of their ability to do heads-down work.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Even relatively small steps to incorporate a greater variety of shared spaces reaps significant rewards.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Little\u2019s goals dovetailed perfectly with Steelcase\u2019s ongoing research around the importance of providing a variety of settings as office work rapidly shifts toward more robust collaboration and creative problem-solving. \u201cWe were studying the effectiveness of a variety of spaces and how to design shared spaces that really performed for their users \u2013 specifically, to understand the spatial attributes that drive occupancy and use,\u201d explains Kristin Boer, a Steelcase applications marketing manager. \u201cAs we understood what Little wanted to accomplish, we realized this was an ideal opportunity to further our research and learn more together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little\u2019s decision to partner with Steelcase resulted in eight new spaces \u2013 five enclosed focus rooms and three collaboration spaces. Once completed, 40 days of camera ethnography meticulously documented how frequently these new spaces were used and for what kinds of work. Adding to this visual documentation, pre- and post-occupancy surveys provided rich qualitative data about employees\u2019 perceptions and preferences.<\/p>\n

Anh Tran, a senior associate at Little, describes the joint research project as \u201ca living lab approach,\u201d purposely designed to benefit Little employees and also deliver proven value to corporate clients who might be considering taking a similar approach to their workplace. \u201cBeing able to test concepts using a research-based approach is very important to us,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe look for ways to verify our design intuition to prove that the hypothesis to work in certain ways really does work. We\u2019re constantly trying to do better, generate more insight and more proof, more fine-tuning. Because clients today want more specificity about what kinds of environments can create the advantages they\u2019re after — to know which furnishings in which settings seem to be more appropriate for certain types of behaviors and types of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge for most organizations is around balancing collaboration and focus — supporting both the interactions of \u201cwe\u201d and the privacy of \u201cme\u201d — spaces that are purposely designed to provide desirable and appropriate choices for different people and different modes of work throughout the day,\u201d says Boer.<\/p>\n

Fully enclosed, Little\u2019s five new focus rooms support intervals of concentration and privacy. Two are high-performance spaces with height-adjustable desks and seating. Another supports focused heads-down work in a more relaxed posture. The remaining two are informal lounge settings. Research questions for these spaces included:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Which focus rooms will be chosen first?<\/li>\n
  • Which focus room has the highest\/lowest \u201cchurn\u201d throughout the day?<\/li>\n
  • Which focus setting(s) will also support collaborative behaviors?<\/li>\n
  • Which spaces will be chosen when audio privacy is needed?<\/li>\n
  • How often will users reconfigure the focus rooms?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The three work-lounge settings were designed to support collaboration and socializing away from the workstation. One was furnished with a large high-top table and stools, another with booths and the third was a living-room-like setting. Research questions for these spaces included:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Which collaboration setting(s) will be chosen first?<\/li>\n
    • Which collaboration setting(s) host longer meetings? Which host more?<\/li>\n
    • Which collaboration setting(s) will also support focus behaviors?<\/li>\n
    • What is the dominant work mode supported by each setting?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      The Steelcase\/Little team started out with some hypotheses about answers to these questions. Some of their assumptions were confirmed by the data — but not all. In fact, several findings were disruptive and transformational, what Tran describes as \u201cthose moments of insight where we\u2019re totally surprised by an outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

      For example, she says, \u201cone of the things that surprised us was that spaces we had anticipated to be more social spaces were also used for intense focus.\u201d In particular, the collaborative space with a high-top table and stools, designed to foster impromptu connection and collaboration, was instead used about 60% of the time for focused individual work. \u201cSo there\u2019s this design intent versus user preference,\u201d she continues. \u201cWe were surprised to see people happily doing focus work in an area we coded as a social area.\u201d The high-top space was also more preferred for collaboration than the other two work-lounge settings, though researchers had predicted that the cozy living-room-like setting would be preferred. Tran\u2019s personal analysis of why the high-top setting is so popular: People just seem to like standing up. \u201cThere\u2019s this flattening of hierarchy that standing offers. It makes for a more pleasant social relationship that\u2019s definitely worth investigating more deeply.\u201d Also, while two of these collaboration areas included a large monitor for projection and videoconferencing, it was closer to users in the high-top setting, allowing them to see on-screen detail more easily.<\/p>\n

      “A large part of design work is production that tends to be task-based and individually oriented.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \"Two<\/p>\n

      Another surprise was that amenities to support productivity seemed to be in higher demand than lounging comfort in focus spaces. \u201cWe thought that the spaces with lounge seating would be more popular because of their relaxed seating options \u2013 we expected people to pick comfort over productivity,\u201d says Tran. In fact, the opposite appears to be true: The two focus rooms with sit-stand desks were most often selected. The easy adjustability, task posture, access to a secondary monitor and other worktools they offered seemed more desirable than the less formal lounge settings.<\/p>\n

      The importance of adjacencies was another key finding. Case in point: Two essentially identically designed and furnished focus rooms produced different use rates. One was approximately 10 feet away from the next workstation, while the other less-used one was fewer than four feet away from the desk of a principal in the firm. \u201cBoth got used, but we saw a definite order of preference that verified a couple of things for us about the granularity of distance and sound, and perhaps what hierarchy and adjacency do for utilization,\u201d says Tran. \u201cThis needs to be verified by more study, but we look for clues wherever we can find them.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \"Detailed<\/p>\n

      The major findings from the post-occupancy study show improvement in employee satisfaction with their workplace. Respondents reported it was easier to collaborate, and metrics for both individual workspaces and team and group spaces improved by significant margins. Improved satisfaction with privacy was especially noticeable, jumping from 2.8 on a five-point scale pre-project to 3.28 post-project. There was an approximately 14% increase in employees\u2019 perceptions of their ability to do heads-down work and a 19% increase in respondents who felt they were able to move throughout the day to different work settings. Other interesting indicators of impact: Headphone use dropped 18% in employees\u2019 post-occupancy ranking of their most-used tools, and interest in working remotely dropped from 54% to 45%.<\/p>\n

      “Employees say it’s now easier to collaborate and there was a 14% increase in perceptions of their ability to do heads-down work.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      As valuable as data and evidence-based design have become, Tran points to the continuing importance of applying human insight to design problems. \u201cNew trends in design can be explored and iterated, but especially when it comes to data, you really need to have conversations when you do studies,\u201d she emphasizes. \u201cA lot of people think data is a magic bullet, and it really isn\u2019t. It needs context and discussion, because it\u2019s not stagnant. Data is a snapshot. Humans don\u2019t stay the same, spaces don\u2019t stay the same, furnishings don\u2019t stay the same and the ways in which we work don\u2019t stay the same. I feel like we\u2019re really on the cusp of realizing that in design research.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \u201cThe gains that Little has achieved suggest that even relatively small – but purposeful – additions of these shared spaces can reap significant rewards,\u201d adds Boer. \u201cWe were able to increase people\u2019s happiness and productivity by making strategic design decisions about the kinds of spaces we provide for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Tran agrees. \u201cEspecially now when everybody\u2019s pushing for any advantage they can get, it\u2019s important to know that you don\u2019t always have to do some grand, scary change to make the space and the experience appreciably better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      When the Washington, D.C., office of Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, a leading international architecture and design firm, had the chance to expand into an 1,100-square-foot space being vacated next door, leaders realized this was more than just an opportunity to become bigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":500446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"topic":[47680],"class_list":["post-491761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLittle Diversified Architecture - Steelcase<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Little Diversified Architecture - Steelcase\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the Washington, D.C., office of Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, a leading international architecture and design firm, had the chance to expand into an 1,100-square-foot space being vacated next door, leaders realized this was more than just an opportunity to become bigger.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Steelcase\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-15T21:03:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-14T05:45:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,dpr_auto,q_70,h_600,w_1200\/v1579120439\/www.steelcase.com\/2020\/01\/15\/20-0133890.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Areli Arellano\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Areli Arellano\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Little Diversified Architecture - Steelcase","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Little Diversified Architecture - Steelcase","og_description":"When the Washington, D.C., office of Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, a leading international architecture and design firm, had the chance to expand into an 1,100-square-foot space being vacated next door, leaders realized this was more than just an opportunity to become bigger.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/","og_site_name":"Steelcase","article_published_time":"2020-01-15T21:03:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-14T05:45:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,dpr_auto,q_70,h_600,w_1200\/v1579120439\/www.steelcase.com\/2020\/01\/15\/20-0133890.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Areli Arellano","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Areli Arellano","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/"},"author":{"name":"Areli Arellano","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f8efe95c5ad8253b4a674dbcfefe5cd"},"headline":"Little Diversified Architecture","datePublished":"2020-01-15T21:03:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-14T05:45:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/"},"wordCount":1558,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1579120439\/www.steelcase.com\/2020\/01\/15\/20-0133890.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/","url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/","name":"Little Diversified Architecture - Steelcase","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1579120439\/www.steelcase.com\/2020\/01\/15\/20-0133890.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-15T21:03:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-14T05:45:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1579120439\/www.steelcase.com\/2020\/01\/15\/20-0133890.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1579120439\/www.steelcase.com\/2020\/01\/15\/20-0133890.jpg","width":5760,"height":3240,"caption":"360 magazine little diversified architecture"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/topics\/design\/little-diversified-architecture\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Little Diversified Architecture"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/","name":"Steelcase","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#organization","name":"Steelcase","url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1531399627\/sc_core_424_sm-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/v1531399627\/sc_core_424_sm-1.jpg","width":331,"height":87,"caption":"Steelcase"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f8efe95c5ad8253b4a674dbcfefe5cd","name":"Areli Arellano","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41fbafa4ace615b5ed6c37a375d49eca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41fbafa4ace615b5ed6c37a375d49eca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Areli Arellano"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.steelcase.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/research\/articles\/author\/aarellan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491761"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801819,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491761\/revisions\/801819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/media\/500446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steelcase.com\/restapi\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=491761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}