A recent article in the “Architects Newspaper”, Jonathan Hilburg describes how WeWork is constantly striving to optimize it’s Office Layouts using Occupancy Data.
“Most architecture firms design offices as one-off projects and rarely collect feedback once the spaces are occupied”, says Jonathan. “Because WeWork both designs and manages their co-working spaces, the company can collect post-occupancy data”.
They do this by collecting direct tenant feedback, but also data from new tech like sensors. They use this vast amount of information to constantly tweak office layouts and update design guidelines. Therefore, they are in a cycle of continuously improving tenant experience.
We think that is the right approach everybody should follow.
Because the truth is, the organisation for which the office was planned and designed for is like an organism. It is constantly changing. Teams grow and shrink or move in or out. Newly formed project teams might need additional creative or meeting space. The Sales Team has different requirements than Finance or HR who just moved to another location. The list is endless.
Therefore, an office space that was perfectly fine at the time is was created might not be up to the task just a year later. So the advice to office planners is: Find a business model to transition from a one-time service provided to clients to a ongoing “managed office layout” model that ensures that a client is even more happy with his office after years than he was on day one…