The Office Fit-Out - Structured Open Plan
Our class was divided up to work on three buildings, each designed uniquely by separate individuals. Each building was assigned three groups, groups which would follow a list of requirements that pertained to a specific office scenario such as a space for start-ups or a paper company. Each group would be one of the following: structured open plan, unstructured open plan, and structured private plan. Me and two others were assigned to a structed open plan for a group of start-up companies.
The start-up is a dynamic entity which can grow and migrate. To regulate and compensate these issues we created a system of work units in accordance with the grid. A single tenant’s workspace is localized within one area of the floor, which promotes a higher degree of focus and collaboration within a single start up. However, this block structure could be detrimental to the floor’s atmosphere as a whole, because even the smallest degree of separation between start ups could promote a competitive atmosphere between them. With this consequence in mind, it remains important to impose this five foot aisle system, to maintain a minimum amount of space for two associates to comfortably pass one another in their movement throughout the office. The circulation imposed compensates for the lack of circulation around the perimeter. In contrast to the tenant blocks designed to be interactive within the start up, the blocks that are considered spill over blocks (storage and file/copy rooms) are designed to be interactive among neighboring start ups, as several start ups may share these spaces. By forcing interactions between start ups, outside of their conventional encounters in break rooms, we are attempting to reconcile this problem of competitiveness, to give the floor a stronger sense of community.
Winter 2015 - Erin Besler
In Collaboration with: Carolyn Francis and Kylie Williams