Designing corporate interiors for future needs

Real Estate Weekly, May 17, 1995 by William M. Whistler

And corporate interior design is not just about the elegantly furnished executive office suite, although it is our job to design all of these areas for their greatest aesthetic and functional impact in the most economically responsible way.

Hidden underneath the physical evidence of design is the process of programming the focused attention and thorough evaluation of a corporation's present and future staffing and adjacencies needs.

Programming is an invaluable exercise and an essential tool for all businesses planning a right-sizing, upgrade or relocation. The net result is a clear and precise picture of the physical real estate needs of the office for both today and tomorrow.

Programming analyses conducted by Brennan Beer German Monk/Interiors and the members of each project team at the onset of a re-design discussion have been critical in defining the true scope of the project.

It is essential that the designers get on board early for the following reasons:

* As designers, we think in terms of space. We can recommend the accurate amount of space required for a corporation's right-sizing, upgrading, and relocation by efficiently designing for flexibility, adaptability, and adjacencies for present and future needs;

* Programming is the base for checking efficiencies of any office floor to the requirements of the tenant - a critical factor when exploring the value of a lease. For example, is the window-to-core area sufficient to effectively layout a client's corporate standards. Answers have to respond to today's needs, as well as tomorrow's;

* Designers are generally objective observers who provide an outside, unbiased perspective - seeing value in furniture reuse; placing open work areas near windows for greater employee well-being, previously the domain of middle- and upper-management; making physical sense out of the corporation's management style and culture;

* With solid interiors programming, the team can focus on efficient planning, scheduling and budgetary parameters with an eye keenly focused on the appropriate utilization of space and resulting aesthetic and functional effect.

One of the ways in which we have become valuable to our relocating clients is by completing test-fits to ascertain the feasibility of available spaces. Joining the client and broker as they visit possible new locations, we look at the likelihood that from the first year to the tenth, the amount of space will meet those needs that are for now, predictable and identifiable. Analyzed criteria not only includes a building's floor plate, size and configuration, but column spacing, core-to-shell dimensions, window area and ceiling height, which all contribute to the functional, aesthetic and cost/utilization aspects of office space.

With corporate right-sizing, the sea of workstations is not what it seems. These areas are now designed to be extremely flexible. Departments will grow or shrink depending upon the workload. The programming of these areas and their intra-departmental adjacencies have to be studied and planned for flexibility.

Today's employee wears many hats, a reality of the technology at their fingertip. Interior planning not only addresses today's and tomorrow's needs of the workplace with regard to expansion and contraction, but also the unforseen additional job functions and responsibilities that employees will grow into as technology continues to evolve.

Conference rooms, too, are designed to be adaptable. Configured for high-level Board meetings, in-house presentations, educational seminars, and as reception venues, the operable word again is flexibility. Programming and planning for multiple uses is critical to right-sizing and minimizes the company's space costs - one of the highest fixed overhead costs of the operation.

Following the traditional programming, planning and design development phases, the actual design costs of a corporate interiors project are less than five percent of total construction cost. The HVAC and electrical requirements alone can typically account for 60 percent of the overall project installation costs. Overruns can be significantly minimized, if not eliminated altogether, by adhering to this thorough and disciplined practice.

Mishaps can be avoided through careful planning and coordination among the entire design team. It would be a bad reflection on the interior designer/architect if the telecommunications consultant wiring the workstations and offices damages finishes by not being allowed the proper start-up time for testing systems prior to the final weeks of construction.

The importance of programming cannot be more strongly emphasized. Getting the interior designer/architect onboard early benefits all aspects of the relocation, re-design and upgrade process for all involved. Carefully identifying the spacial needs of the corporate client, as well as their corporate image and internal culture, is at least as important to the design process as the selection of furnishings, fabrics and artwork.