Contract Magazine - June 2020 - 30

DESIGN IN ACTION

Expert Perspectives:
The Future of Workplace
By Nabil Sabet, Group Director, M Moser Associates

Sabet strategizes with companies and institutions around the world to
design and build environments that comfort and inspire users and contribute
to the workplace transformation process. As group director, he leads project
strategy as well as the initialization, design, and delivery of large-scale,
base-building, office, laboratory, healthcare, and educational environments.
How has workplace design evolved over the last five years?
Companies are realizing that their workspace is a business resource, not just
a cost-and that it plays a crucial role in inspiring their people. In a world where
each company is aspiring to innovate and disrupt, key elements that positively
influence an employee's performance are key. Achieving the perfect balance
of productivity and human-centered design, while considering sustainability
and well-being, requires design that not only addresses the physical, social,
and digital environments, but also operational needs. Workplace design today
requires constant experimentation and flexibility.
What trends and new directions in workplace design are you're excited about?
The ability to perform many tasks remotely has distilled the office into a place with
new and purer purpose. Focusing the workplace on the things people can do better
in person-collective work, cross-functional collaboration, accessing special tools,
multidisciplinary/integrated creative work, culture boosting-is exciting because
it aligns human needs and potential financial savings. I design and deliver offices
for a living, but I'd be very excited if you told me I needed to create slightly smaller
yet functionally rich facilities that are healthy-and places where people come
in to work on what they need, when they need it.
"Flexibility" is a buzzword in workplace these days. How do you incorporate
flexibility into your designs?
Flexibility is essential for creativity and experimentation. Some examples
include moveable walls, abundant writing surfaces, or large tables set on casters,
which are helpful for brainstorming and ideation. But overall, we have to encourage
things to be untethered. A huge part of flexibility is connected to personalization
of space. If I have pictures of my whole family and every trinket from industry
partners decorating my desk, then it's not flexible. This may be uncomfortable
for some at first, but as we consider new requirements for sanitization, like
leaving surfaces clear for cleaning crews to disinfect, it makes it an easier
thing to accept.
What are you and your business doing differently in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic?
As clients plan to adapt their spaces to the changing landscape, they are focusing
on two separate yet related aspects: how to go about re-entry and how to plan
their office spaces going forward.
In planning for the short-term, remaining flexible, strategic, and agile
is essential. As M Moser employees return to our Asia offices, we've designated
teams to cycle in and out of the office at different times. An entire sterilization
process occurs before the next team enters. Leaders are assigned to teams
with the expectation that they will not interact with any other team in person,
and we've also created an in-house task force focused on the re-entry process.
With these strategies in place, we are minimizing the potential for viral loading,
as well as implementing necessary protocols for if and when COVID-19 re-emerges.
Other simple yet effective tactics can encourage a healthier workplace, such
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as leaving seats in between colleagues, propping doors and windows open
for air circulation, or placing tape on the floor to mark off zones for distancing.
For long-term planning, preparing for unprecedented scenarios to preserve
business continuity is top of mind for organizations. At M Moser, there's been
a large emphasis on washrooms. We may transition to opening and closing doors
with feet as opposed to hands or using an automated system. We also are
considering systems like UV treatments that blast sterilizing light over surfaces
when a room is unoccupied. At the moment, we are employing everything from
live-time temperature reading via forehead thermometers and automatic scanners
to sanitizing stations that remove debris from shoes. These forms of technology
will help companies forge a blueprint for what's to come down the line.
How do we redesign the workplace post-COVID-19?
In the physical office, we must improve air quality, rethink where we eat and
gather, and take a look at how we open and close doors. We also must understand
what the worker's role is inside the office and the purpose the office serves. To keep
sanitation and cleanliness the top priority, depersonalizing desks might be key.
Reducing clutter or assigning daily rotating desks would encourage proper
cleaning. Offices built with construction materials that are inherently antimicrobial,
such as copper, brass, and some laminates, as well as fabrics with antimicrobial
properties embedded within the fibers or treated fabrics that may be bleach
cleanable, will become more commonplace.
Amenity spaces have become such a focus of workplace design. How do
you see these social spaces and their role in work environments evolving?
The reality is more likely that our definition of normal and the amenities we require
will be forever changed. Moving forward, providing amenities related to physical
health and infection control will surge in importance. Employees will rightfully
expect an enhanced cleaning program for areas like receptions, pantries, cafe/
dining areas, coffee points, copy rooms, and wellness rooms in addition to an
after-hours cleaning program that focuses on disinfection of all surfaces. Business
leaders should also consider implementing improvements to HVAC systems,
adding UVC lamp systems, and coating highly used surfaces in common areas with
antimicrobial treatments that better prevent germs and bacteria from circulating
through touch, air, and water.
Other potential amenities that will take on a more prominent role will include
technology that reduces physical touch in common areas-think hands-freeenabled equipment for faucets, soap dispensers, paper towels, trash receptacles,
refrigerators, microwave doors, closets, and points of egress. It may seem simple,
but providing employees with hygienic products like hand sanitizers, antibacterial
soaps, gloves, masks, and disinfectant wipes will become table stakes.
Many companies have an open workplace or collaboration areas. Do you
think we are going to go back to higher panels in workstations and bigger
footprints? Will benching exist?
We're going to see a lot of those areas-pantries, coffee rooms, huddle areas-
being reduced in terms of occupancy, but I don't anticipate a long-term end to
collaboration. During this time, we've proved we can do our everyday tasks outside
the workplace, but the office will remain a place for collaboration. We need to make
sure we don't oversteer, building cubicles/capsules instead of open office plans.
Traffic flow also has to be managed, ideally in a one-way, clockwise direction,
with occasional bays where people can stand or allow others to pass-all in order
to reduce proximity to others.
I truly believe that the physical workplace will always have a critical
influence on company culture, brand identity, team building, face-to-face
collaboration, and more. However, it can't be denied that COVID-19, which has
thrown almost all nonessential businesses into working remotely, has revealed
that the future of work will be a dual frontier-one where working from home
is as accepted and valued as working from the corporate office, and where having
the ability for both is feasible.

contractdesign.com

JUNE 2020

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Contract Magazine - June 2020

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