30
/ BUILDING DIALOGUE / MARCH 2016
Y
ou don’t hear much about
building lobbies lately,
what with the cacopho-
ny of the open-office debate still
drowning out most everything
else. Maybe that’s because lob-
bies are quite literally on “neutral”
ground, surrounded by the work-
place evolution raging at their fringes.
And what is a traditional lobby any-
way? Does it really have a true identity
today aside from some upscale finishes
surrounded by what many would call
pure, wasted space? Consider this state-
ment:
“Not so long ago, the lobbies of even
the most architecturally distinctive office
buildings were little more than sterile spac-
es connecting the front door to the elevators.”
Seems like a rather strong indictment of
the built environment in general, already
tasked with expanding the alternative work-
place without sacrificing sustainability. The thing is,
this was the lead sentence The New York Times real
estate feature in the summer of 1990. Clearly, the func-
tion of office building lobbies was every bit a topic
of speculation and analysis then as it is today. And
today’s challenges are significantly more complex.
A multitenant building lobby is a wholly shared
space, which tends to be misleading if there is essen-
tially nothing in the space to “share.” That is, a few
chairs and a sofa sitting atop thousands of square feet
of the finest Italian marble are unlikely to qualify as
amenities to the majority of today’s tenants who must
share the cost of that space. There simply has to be
more.
Call it the appetite for newer working environ-
ments, the proliferation of millennials, the continued
push for sustainability, or any combination thereof.
It’s just a fact that even the premium Class A lobbies
of the late 1980s buildings are sagging under grandi-
ose design schemes meant solely to make an aesthetic
statement to tenants and visitors. For many decades,
building lobbies were designed for a singular purpose,
and that purpose is no longer viable in a marketplace
that demands collaboration and connectivity, more
flexibility and less waste. Even with floor-to-ceiling
remodels every five to seven years, repurposing these
cathedral-like spaces can be a daunting endeavor. But
there are fixes, for those owners who are willing to
allocate the funds.
Dallas-based Granite Properties, for example, bor-
rowed from the hospitality side of interior design,
coining the phrase, “the corporate living room” for
both new and existing lobbies where changes of work
environment are meshed with conventional lobby
space and other amenities.
Other models include transforming underutilized
lobby square footage into “third space” work areas,
which function as a cross between an office and a
lounge with a high emphasis on good design and
quality materials. Evenmillennials who boast of being
able to work anywhere at any time realize that rolling
in a coffee cart for three hours a day usually doesn’t
do the trick when other, better options are available.
Lobbies that can integrate the outdoors certainly
have been able to add value and attract tenant inter-
est when conditions are favorable. A building lobby
usually does not change in size. But opening a wall
onto a green belt or other outdoor work/break area
can dramatically change the purpose of the original
space and add value to the building that did not exist
before.
In fact, owners are keenly aware that any lobby is an
opportunity to make a dazzling first impression. Mar-
keting prospective tenant space through lobby design
is not a new concept. For a great number of Class A
properties, the lobby design simply had to pass the
eyeball test. But that is rapidly changing. Lobby spaces
now are shared extensions of tenant suites in a way
they’ve never been before.
Today’s lobbies are expected to work smarter, and
compete onmultiple levels that didn’t even exist a few
short years ago. New buildings, of course, have the ad-
vantage of hindsight along with the pressures of exist-
ing sustainability standards. Their lobbies are smaller,
more efficient, more “nimble.” They’re built with an
eye on recruitment and retention from the outset,
supported by flexible design and quality components.
Those models are largely a work in progress, but their
success is catching up fast. As one Denver-based prop-
erty manager summed it up, lobbies are being shaped
muchmore by tenant demand than developer whims.
“One thing for sure is that lobbies have gone from big
and grand to convenient and connected. It’s always
about being connected. Don’t look for that to change
anytime soon.”
\\
Katie Winter
Senior
Project
Manager,
Kieding
TRENDS
in Lobbies
Photo courtesy Brad Nicol
Larger lobbies with vast open spaces can be transformed with
several seating clusters, flat-screen viewing areas, wired work
tables and other collaborative elements. Natural overhead light
augments upscale but comfortable furniture and fixtures.
