Space Use
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RAND Develops IT Solutions to Enable the Transition to Unassigned Office Space
5-30-2018The RAND Corporation transformed 10,000 sf of a Class A office building it leases in Alexandria, Va., from 100 percent closed, assigned offices and cubicles to nearly 100 percent unassigned seating, with glass walls throughout. The controversial pilot program has been an overwhelming success: An independent study found that the new design increases unplanned interactions among researchers and improved support for teamwork, while at the same time sustaining or improving the environment for deep concentration. It also increased space utilization by 30-35 percent. The original pilot space has been tripled, plans are in the works to convert more space this way, and RAND intends to implement this design for all new office space. Its success has been enabled by a wide range of IT solutions that RAND developed to support it.
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Universities Realign Their Campuses to Do More with Less
5-23-2018These are trying times for public higher education. Scarce capital funding, changing student demographics, missed enrollment targets, hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance, combined with the academic shift to active learning—all these factors, and more, suggest the need to rethink the traditional residential campus. Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has taken a wide-ranging look at the physical form and mode of operation of its campus, with an eye on more productive asset utilization and greater design flexibility. Its phased, multi-year plan has entailed demolition, renovation and adaptive reuse, and new construction. The plan also reflects a new vision of shared spaces that allow the school to do more with less, implemented by minimizing or eliminating single-use spaces, designing versatile classrooms that accommodate a variety of programs, creating multipurpose buildings that welcome a wide portion of the student body, and expanding the scheduling window.
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Iowa State Realignment Echoes Move to Shared and Multi-Use Spaces
5-23-2018A leader in the field of plant sciences, Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa, is recognized as a pipeline of new ideas and talent for the state’s massive agriculture industry.
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Overcoming Legacy Barriers to Creating Interprofessional Health Education Facilities
5-16-2018Health education institutions nationwide are pivoting toward instructional programs anchored around interprofessional team-based care models that satisfy accreditation requirements and better prepare tomorrow’s healthcare professionals by simulating real-world environments.
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Innovation Hub in Lake Nona Medical City Serves Health and Life Sciences
5-9-2018The 92,000-sf, three-story GuideWell Innovation Center, located in the heart of the Lake Nona Medical City health and life sciences park in Orlando, Fla., is designed to be the epicenter for the development of new healthcare solutions.
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Biocontainment Lab Designs for Resource-Limited Regions Bring Consistency, Cost Predictability, Sustainability Benefits
5-2-2018A new approach to the design of diagnostic labs in resource-constrained settings reduces risk and improves outcomes while accelerating the project timeline and lowering costs.
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Creating and Managing More Occupant-centric Buildings
4-25-2018The 21st century workplace offers multiple types of environments, and workers typically occupy an assortment of spaces throughout the day.
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New Scientific Workplace Promotes Collaboration and Innovation by Removing Barriers
4-18-2018The new scientific workplace (NSW) transcends departmental and organizational boundaries to create a high-performance open environment that fosters multidisciplinary collaboration, creativity, productivity, innovation, and product development.
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How Startup Design Principles Can Improve the Performance of Academic and Research Space
4-4-2018Modern research and academic facilities are increasingly adopting design principles typically used by small, fast-growing startup companies that depend on flexibility, innovation, and collaboration to succeed.
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Novartis' Activity-Based Work Environments Have Broad Appeal
3-21-2018The Novartis headquarters in Sydney, Australia, demonstrates how to create a multi-tenant space where employees at all levels can choose their work setting depending on their activities, as long as there is abundant space for collaboration and informal interaction across all sectors.
