Designing workspaces to support today’s hybrid environment

Higher Education Client Hybrid Workspace Design

Like many employers, our higher education client needed to update their existing workspaces to better support today’s hybrid work environment. While in-person collaboration remains essential for many businesses, balancing flexibility and respecting diverse work preferences adds to the design challenge for these spaces.

We collaborated with the dean and personnel from a humanities department to create an office that offers flexibility for remote workers, providing a sense of place and increasing use of office spaces. Rather than reducing office spaces to accommodate more people, we expanded and upgraded them with better aesthetics and acoustics. The updated area includes a work lounge and huddle rooms for all hands days and options that accommodate various workstyles. We also incorporated a coffee bar, phone room pods, and a large multipurpose room with a pantry and movable partition for flexibility of departmental functions as well as committee and donor meetings.

Due to the age of the building, the original layout was very built out, which reduced sight lines, connection, and flow, thus limiting collaboration across the department. The renewed space is more open, improving circulation, connecting the department throughout, and offering views through the large, historic windows to the main lawn.

This improved experience encourages employees to come to the office more often, while the added amenities help build a stronger, more connected office culture.