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Why You Should Wear Deodorant
September 27, 2012
| Ever wonder just how much closer you'll get to your coworkers? Good news: you won't be sitting on each other's laps just yet. But your office space is getting smaller—and smarter. You'll find how atBisnow's San Francisco Office of the Future event tomorrow at The Fairmont. Here's a sneak peek (but don't forget to sign up!) |
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| Cloud computing and virtualization have reduced the need to reserve precious office space for servers, hardware, and library storage. To further cut costs, companies are leasing offices with collaborative amenity areas. Size is a factor you can control, says JLL?s Tom Poser, who's speaking at the event. All companies need conference rooms, a kitchen, and big tables for laying out projects, but not everyone needs to use those spaces at the same time. We can and should be sharing them, he tells us. |
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| The collaborative interior area trend has grown over the last year, says GCI General Contractors prez James Jenkins, who's also speaking. He says his clients who build these types of offices (mostly tech and media companies) pour the majority of money into areas where people interact most, such as the lounge, kitchen, lobby, and conference rooms. Luxurious meeting rooms can be paid for by the savings of materials from building fewer offices and hard walls. He'll have the inside scoop on the materials and accessories these companies are purchasing. |
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| The more workplaces move to cloud computing, the more heat-generating equipment is removed from workplaces to dedicated data centers. ARUP engineer Alisdair McGregor, another panelist, wonders if this will ever happen extensively enough to completely change the way offices are designed. If it did happen enough and the offices were located in the right climate (aka Northern California), they could be designed to ventilate naturally without A/C. This would significantly reduce energy dependence and improve air quality and overall sustainability. |
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| According to FME Architecture + Design's Eric Ibsen, there's no one-size-fits-all formula for designing workplaces of the future (and he shows us there's no one-color fits all formula for photos). He says that his firm's designs should complement what its clients do as a business. One San Francisco trend that's consistent is the fierce competition companies have in recruiting and retaining the best people. For that reason, he says, top amenities in the workplace have become a requirement rather than a perk. |
