Architects' Role in Better Office Design

Maureen Hall’s article “Ten Tips From Michael Scott” posted on Advertising Age got me thinking about the endless opportunity for architects specializing in office design. I managed to avoid working in a cubicle for the first portion of my career. Inevitably I made the move to a large organization and on came the cubicle, with its large fabric walls in grim shades of green, no windows within view and no co-workers to converse with easily. It was at this point I began to understand the office humor that The Office projects. With the increasing importance of incorporating better design in the way of sustainability, the field of architecture has been given a new breath of life and the opportunity to redefine itself. An article by Jason Hughes for the San Diego Source reports that in a survey of 2000 office employees many reported that a better-designed office environment would increase their work outputs by as much as 21 percent. Armed with statistics and current trends architects are positioned to be employee advocates in office design. An architect entering a finalist presentation with a smart approach to office design with guarantees of improved employee productivity will be much better positioned over his or her competition that speaks only about traditional retrofitting with the usual office outfitting. Let’s hope that company execs are paying attention to these trends and that better office space for all will be just around the corner.