The New Alternative Officing Solutions

While such things as computer and telecommunications systems have traditionally been outside the designer's responsibility, they are fundamental elements of alternative design. Designers must become technology-savvy to truly serve their clients and offer real alternative officing solutions.

Work and Life Coming Together

Business people, armed with cellular phones and portable computers, no longer depend on a company office to be productive, and thus can spend more time in the field with customers and on other key business activities. Additionally, a number of people who still go to "the office" on a daily basis reported using their laptops and cell phones to work while traveling, commuting and at home. We're definitely seeing major changes in how, when and where people are doing their work. Whether they work for a big company, a small one, or for themselves, what they need from the company workplace is also changing.

During the industrial revolution, work and the rest of life separated for the first time. Now that we work at home, in our car and just about everywhere else, work and life are coming together again. Because of this distributed work environment, we're much less dependent on our company facility as a place to perform our individual work, and much more dependent on it as a place to collaborate and work in groups.

That clear delineation between work and life is going away. With many employers encouraging their employees to work from virtual and home offices, it's important for the company to provide them with a suitable place to interact. In fact, according to one industry source, almost two-thirds of Fortune 1000 companies already have telecommuting programs in place.

Companies make it easy for these virtual and home office workers to interact with others over the internet. But, while we give them the means to converse in both professional and social contexts, people need more than virtual interaction and the company's facility design should be responsive to that need.

Thus, it appears that by one name or another and to one extent or another, alternative officing is here to stay. But, how architects and interior designers will deal with the technologies that make effective alternative office design possible remains to be seen.

The Learning Curve

With a few notable exceptions, most designers I know still view technology as residing outside their responsibility and competence, and generally defer technology questions and decisions to consultants or, in some cases, back to their clients.

Nevertheless, just as a growing number of design firms are realizing the importance of understanding and participating in work process decisions, it seems inevitable that they'll need to develop a similar perspective on technology.

A lot of designers have had a very narrow definition of alternative officing, using it to describe, for example, the extent to which people are home officing, hoteling, etc., when, in fact, techniques like hoteling really only work for a very limited number of jobs. But, alternative officing has a much broader definition. When you start seeing alternative workspace design as including such issues as information technology, work process and culture, and then add in strategic intent, alternative officing becomes consulting, not just design. We're seeing more cases where the CEO is calling in the consultants first, then the architect.

Yet many companies lack either the desire or the resources to add a high-powered management consultant to their facilities team, particularly when they want some of the benefits of alternative officing without reengineering their entire organization.

As a result, they will indeed turn to architects and interior designers as their alternative officing experts. And, while most designers will still need the assistance of specialized technology consultants, a practical understanding of the subject will be critical, particularly if the designer is to function as project leader.

While design firms can't expect to replace (or compete with) the real technology experts, it will be essential for us to develop the knowledge and experience to start the technology discussion, understand its implications, and make informed recommendations. We owe it to our clients.

A growing number of such clients, anxious to increase productivity, decrease real estate costs and develop competitive advantages, are coming to the understanding that technology truly pays off only when seen as part of a bigger picture, a picture that includes both work process and workplace design.

Thus, the widespread acceptance and use of alternative design strategies seems inevitable, presenting the design profession with a tremendous challenge as well as a major opportunity, not just in terms of developing new business, but also in terms of expanding beyond traditional capabilities.