September 2016 — Office Properties Quarterly —
Page 23
There’s No Crime in
Multipurpose Space
Downtown Denver’s Environmental
Protection Agency Region 8 headquar-
ters looked at the all-hands space as
an integrated necessity rather than
a facilities perk. The EPA wanted a
single space to accommodate all
850-plus employees specifically for
all-hands meetings. The agency
achieved this by fixing upscale wood
bleacher seating into the building’s
sparkling atrium space, which has
turned out to be one of the more
popular features of the facility. So
the space was designed for all-hands
meetings, but it serves multiple pur-
poses for both scheduled and ad hoc
meetings.
Open-plan offices, alternately
loved and hated by the very people
who inhabit them, are a natural fit
for all-hands meetings. The terms
“transparency” and “inclusion,” so
prevalent in all-hands meeting lan-
guage, seem to merge seamlessly
with the no-barriers design of the
open office. That’s not a mistake.
Although a great many emerging
companies still push for a multi-
generational workplace, it is clearly
millennials who hold the cards,
and the preeminent office design
will remain open and collabora-
tive to address that group’s specific
requirements. Consequently, the
all-hands meeting space for this
type of environment always is avail-
able by virtue of what’s already in
it. This might include a mix of hard
and soft seating, lounge-style tables
of varying heights, stools, benches,
even chunky, soft-sided “bleachers”
in vivid colors and prints. Mobility
and flexibility are the keys to suc-
cess when this type of design is
employed. Most elements don’t need
to be moved out of the space, but
rather around the space to better
facilitate sitting, standing and lean-
ing.
Smaller companies with less space
and a less open plan can still achieve
a more than adequate all-hands
area. Clustered workstations with
lower-height panels and open-sided
desktops can increase sight lines
and provide a wide variety of casual
seating. Although this approach may
seem like a retroactive response to
a short-term issue, it’s frequently
planned for in the original design.
Similarly, many dual and multi-
floor tenants may have included
in the build-out a “monumental”
stair or other dominant design
feature, which serves double-duty
as the company’s all-hands area.
It’s been baked into the cake. Even
some of the more traditional profes-
sional services firms worldwide have
adopted some open-plan fundamen-
tals, which specifically address the
spatial requirements for all-hands
meetings.
But the devil is always in the
details. Design issues for all-hands
meetings usually are sacrificed for
the cultural or profit value of any
given gathering, as they should be.
Fair enough. Business goals almost
always will take precedence over
the facilities in which they’re dis-
cussed. But it’s never wise to ignore
the impact of the design, especially
when every minute counts.
s
Design
Allsteel
Mobile-seating elements can be moved around a flexible space to accommodate all-hands meetings and informal gatherings.
