Comments on: Physical Space: The Forgotten Factor http://www.omakasegroup.com/blog/archives/502 Unleashing the power within organizations with facilitation and visualization. Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:13:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Daniel Rose http://www.omakasegroup.com/blog/archives/502/comment-page-1#comment-310 Daniel Rose Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:39:25 +0000 http://www.omakasegroup.com/blog/?p=502#comment-310 Here's a gross generalization that might be completely wrong. Architects and interior designers are trained to design something that tends to be very static and permanent. A building. A floor plate. Walls. Kitchens. What they aren't designing for is human interaction. The question is how to design a space that supports and actively facilitates the best possible human interaction? Some of those elements would be permanent and some elements would be left up to the inhabitants to define in their own way. Dave Gray is doing good work on how to manage creative people and one of his theories is on physical space and how they have to be built to promote serendipity. Spaces have to somehow strike the balance between providing a physical shell framework and also getting out of the way and letting its inhabitants manipulate it best. To Michael's point, that reinforces Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language quite nicely and I can wholeheartedly agree from personal experience. I'm not sure if too many corporations would put a bar in their campus. ;-) Here’s a gross generalization that might be completely wrong. Architects and interior designers are trained to design something that tends to be very static and permanent. A building. A floor plate. Walls. Kitchens.

What they aren’t designing for is human interaction. The question is how to design a space that supports and actively facilitates the best possible human interaction? Some of those elements would be permanent and some elements would be left up to the inhabitants to define in their own way.

Dave Gray is doing good work on how to manage creative people and one of his theories is on physical space and how they have to be built to promote serendipity. Spaces have to somehow strike the balance between providing a physical shell framework and also getting out of the way and letting its inhabitants manipulate it best.

To Michael’s point, that reinforces Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language quite nicely and I can wholeheartedly agree from personal experience. I’m not sure if too many corporations would put a bar in their campus. ;-)

]]> By: Michael Noble http://www.omakasegroup.com/blog/archives/502/comment-page-1#comment-305 Michael Noble Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:26:41 +0000 http://www.omakasegroup.com/blog/?p=502#comment-305 I've done some research on informal information sharing. One thing that you often lose when you move from a downtown location to a suburban employment zone is the bars and restaurants in which people get together after work and talk about their projects. In an urban environment, where people walk, bike or transit to work, a group of people will often leave together at lunch or after work and go have a meal or drink. In a suburban area, everyone drives to work, and even if there is a place to eat/drink nearby, it's often not very interesting, and you have to drive to get there. Most people don't bother. As one person told me; "Once I'm in my car, I'm just going to head home". Which is to say, if you are building a campus, put a nice pub in the middle, and serve good, cheap food and booze. I’ve done some research on informal information sharing. One thing that you often lose when you move from a downtown location to a suburban employment zone is the bars and restaurants in which people get together after work and talk about their projects. In an urban environment, where people walk, bike or transit to work, a group of people will often leave together at lunch or after work and go have a meal or drink. In a suburban area, everyone drives to work, and even if there is a place to eat/drink nearby, it’s often not very interesting, and you have to drive to get there. Most people don’t bother. As one person told me; “Once I’m in my car, I’m just going to head home”.

Which is to say, if you are building a campus, put a nice pub in the middle, and serve good, cheap food and booze.

]]> By: Sharon Vanderkaay http://www.omakasegroup.com/blog/archives/502/comment-page-1#comment-300 Sharon Vanderkaay Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:49:04 +0000 http://www.omakasegroup.com/blog/?p=502#comment-300 A forgotten factor indeed! The general lack of attention to this dimension is one of the great mysteries of my life as a designer. With the exception of Peter Block, very little has be written in management books regarding how design can encourage or discourage interaction. Reducing the open office planning to an either/or question is over-simplifying the issue. I think we need people and places that act as "knowledge activists." Yes, I'm the person who presented those stats at Bell Canada a few years ago! A forgotten factor indeed! The general lack of attention to this dimension is one of the great mysteries of my life as a designer. With the exception of Peter Block, very little has be written in management books regarding how design can encourage or discourage interaction. Reducing the open office planning to an either/or question is over-simplifying the issue. I think we need people and places that act as “knowledge activists.” Yes, I’m the person who presented those stats at Bell Canada a few years ago!

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