Office Design Reinvented - using PlanEasy2D

8/14/2019 Office Design Reinvented - using PlanEasy2D

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Plan&Visualize Office Design Reinvented

Office Design Reinvented: How toIncrease Productivity using PlanEasy2D

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Executive Summary

Designing a plan for a brand new office and redesigning for an existingoffice involve different considerations and inputs. The main goal is however

the same: maximize productivity and cost efficiency. A well-designed officecan reap the benefits of smart,worker-oriented designs. Simple concepts

applied in the design/redesign can reduce time and cost immensely. Afloorplanner tool visualizes the solution for you and helps determine the

best options with less effort and within a short period. This paper explains

the steps involved in planning a new office and the role PlanEasy2D plays inmaking optimal decisions. Also discussed is a case of how a proposed

rearrangement of office employees can be examined within a few minutes,

again helping in crucial decision-making.

Planning a new office

When a company decides to go for a new office, it can either construct the building

from scratch or think of renting a building that suits its operations. Although there ismore work and time invested in the former, both require a good amount oforganization and interior decoration effort. Each floor of an office building needs to

be designed according to its purpose and the employees who will be working there.The functionality of the rooms influences the choices made in drawing up a suitable

plan. Different types of companies need distinct layouts to fit their operations. If wetake the case of a software design company that would need to accommodate 20

computer engineers in one floor along with a group leader, the arrangement wouldbe different from the case where a newspaper publisher looks for an office to

accommodate its employees.

A company building requires an assortment of space types. These can include:

Core Working Space1. Individual/joint work space for staff: Two types of organization are possible

here open office and cubicle type2. Conference rooms

Employee/Visitor Support

1. Lobby

2. Atria or Common area3. Cafeteria or dining hall

4. Physical fitness area

Operation and Maintenance

1. General Storage2. Computer Closets


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After the space type, more detailed aspects of interior planning come into thepicture:

Furniture planning deciding on the type, numbers, dimensions and

placement

Windows In the case where the planning is for the construction of a new

building, windows are important for adequate natural lighting. Lighting Arrangements To supplement the natural light in the rooms,

suitable artificial lights should be provided for.

Flooring Decisions on what type of tiles to be used for the floors and if full

or partial carpeting is needed should be made.

Heating System/Electrical Outlets on Walls Depending on the climate of the

region where the office is located, heaters may be necessary along the walls.Electrical outlets need to be placed at the appropriate points as well.

The following points ponder are useful to ponder for making decisions on

the above mentioned facets of planning:

Spatial equity: Do workers have enough space to accomplish tasks? Flexibility: Can the workplace be rapidly adjusted to respond to industry-

related challenges?

Comfort: Can workers adjust light, temperature, furnishings, and acousticlevels to their preferences?

Sense of place: Does the workplace decor and atmosphere mirror thecompanys brand or mission? Does the workplace create a culture appropriate

to the work done there?

Company A wants to start a branch in a new city toexpand its operations. An existing office building offered

for rent is identified as a potential location. One or more

of its floors may be needed to house the employees andoperations. To confirm its suitability and estimate space requirements, a plan needs

to be drawn visualizing the office with furniture and other arrangements in place.

Requirements for the office:

Number of Employees = 25 (20 developmental + 3 administrative + 2 sales)

Cubicle-type workplace for developmental personnel and open-type for

administrative and sales Conference room required on one or more of the floors

Kitchen /Dining Space

Computer storage space

Using PlanEasy2D to create the plan:

Floors 2 and 3 of the building are being considered. The best solution for the

company is accommodating all the employees, conference room, kitchen and


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computer storage room in a single floor. The dimensions and layout of the rooms inthe floors are known.

Lets start with Floor 2:

Step 1: Draw the rooms in the floor as per the layout with the appropriate

dimensions. The mens/ladies restrooms for the floor are already in the plan. Hereyou can choose between displaying the dimensions in feet or meters according to thestandard used.

Fig 1. Layout of the floor with dimensions

Step 2: The workplaces of the staff can now be added to the plan by using thesuitable furniture symbols from the office library. Since the cubicle-style is preferred

here for a portion of the employees, the cubicle symbol is inserted at the appropriateplaces in the main hall. By right-clicking, the dimensions of the cubicle can be

adjusted and also rotated to the desired position. Once adjusted, furniture can becopied and pasted in the preferred location in the room. Other furniture such as book

shelves and work desks can also be inserted in place.

Step 3: Deciding on other rooms As a trial, the lower left-hand corner room isselected as the conference room and the right-hand corner room as the kitchen.

Only the computer storage space remains to be allocated. With the correspondingfurniture, you can get an idea of whether the space is adequate.

Step 4: Any remaining furniture items can be selected from other libraries (eg.,

plant,drawer,etc.) and put in place. Now, you have an exact estimate of how manystaff can be accommodated in the floor and if all the requirements have been met for

the other rooms.


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Fig 2. Plan with cubicles added

Fig 3. Final Plan of Floor 2

As we can see, with the planned estimates of cubicle and table sizes, even with a

frugal placement, Floor 2 can accommodate only 20 employees. The remaining 5cannot be comfortably seated in the same floor. Either another arrangement

including Floor 3 must be considered, or another office building where an optimal

arrangement would be possible needs to be found.

These steps show you how within a span of one hour at a maximum, you candetermine the suitability of the choice of floors and/or building for your new office

and thus save valuable time and cost using PlanEasy2D.


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New Ideas in Office Design

Architects and designers constantly reexamine the changing workplace to solveproblems and accommodate needs. Some of their innovations have played better

than others. Heres the latest thinking on what works:

For better worker retention and productivity

Executive offices on the interior, workers at the windows

Executive offices are better placed at the center of each floor. Rank-and-file workerswho spend more time at their desks belong in open spaces by the windows where

they can benefit more from the views and natural light.

If your goal is spontaneous collaboration

Enclosed mini-conference rooms

When collaborative areas are scattered between clusters of cubes, the noise prevents

cube-dwellers from getting work done. Instead, allocate small spaces with doors forinformal meetings. Workers can quickly come together without having to leave their

immediate area or reserve a conference room.

To get a more mobile workforce

Satellite and drop-in office spaces

Employees who spend a lot of time at other sites do not need fixed-size office space.

Making offices smaller allows for touch-down or hotel workspaces for visitors

from other offices.

If your goal is balancing privacy with collaboration:

Lower cube walls

Traditional cubes are too isolating, but the open desk system can be disturbing anddirectly affect the productivity of employees. Companies can simply lower cube walls

from six feet to four, affording just enough privacy and plenty of visibility.


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Redesigning an existing office

Redesign may be necessary for a variety of reasons it could be existing spaceissues that need to be solved or simply to improve the motivation of the employees.

It is important in keeping up with the current pace and face of the organization. Asthe company grows and changes, newer problems come up which can be tackled by

innovating or reinventing the office space. Feedback from employees and customersplays a major role in the analysis.

Assess Current Space Layout and Usage

Study whether the layout of the building is helping or hindering employees in the

quest to get work done. Observing workers for a few days will reveal inefficientorganization of space.

Bad signs:

Collaborative spaces are bunched at the far end of the building

People whose jobs are highly collaborative do not naturally come into contactwith colleagues during the workday

Employees spend a lot of time in transit to meeting rooms, printers, copiers,

and fax machines

Find out how often people are using existing spaces by monitoring cubicles andconference rooms periodically.

Bad signs:

An area is always empty

An area is overcrowded

Workers are competing for certain furnishings or equipment and not usingothers

Company B has found that a long-term project with a

particular customer is proceeding at a slow rate.Upon observing the process of operations, it has

found that the problem lay with the physical location

of workers of three departments that needed to

interact with each other many times a day. Two of the departments needed access toa laboratory that was located in another building. The solution is obvious: to

reorganize them to minimize time lost in going back and forth between two buildingsand also in meeting each other. But to visualize the new arrangement and confirm its

viability, a plan is drawn with color-coding to indicate how employees in the projectare physically distributed.


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Using PlanEasy2D to create the plan:

Figure 4 shows a diagram of the buildings, B1 and B2, and the departments in thedifferent floors:

Building Floor Department(s) Number of Employees

B1 2 1 52 2

5 3 8

B2 Ground Laboratory

A total of 8 workers from dept. 1 and 3 require access to the lab.

Fig. 4. Building Layout

Solution:

As the laboratory cannot be moved, the proposal is to move the employees whoneed access to it from building B1 to B2, preferably in the ground floor of B2 where

there are a few vacant spaces. The two employees from dept. 2 of B1 and remaining

five employees from the other group can be accommodated in the first floor of B2, asillustrated below.

Step 1: Draw the rooms in the ground floor of B2 as per the current layout with the

appropriate dimensions and work space arrangement.

Fig. 5. B2 Ground Floor Layout

Step 2: Decide on the seating arrangement for the 8 employees that need access to

the lab. The red squares drawn using the text box indicate that employees belongingto dept. 1 will be seated in the respective desks.

Dept. 3

Dept. 1

B1 B2

LaboratoryDept. 2Floor 2

Floor 5


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Fig.6. Layout with Color-Coding to indicate new Employee Distribution

Step 3: Draw the rooms in the first floor of B2 as per the layout similar to how theground floor was drawn.

Fig. 7. B2 First Floor Layout

Step 4: Decide on the optimal seating arrangement for the seven employees, suchthat they can collaborate with each other easily.


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Fig. 8. Layout with Color-Coding

In this example, we have seen how a proposed rearrangement of office employees

can be confirmed and simultaneously documented with an easy color-coding scheme.In the first floor of B2, curved work desks were tried out in place of the rectangular

desks corresponding to the requirements of the respective employees. Thus,flexibility to experiment with the planning is possible using PlanEasy2D.


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Points to Take-Away

Designing a productive office building is a matter of using the right inputs and tools

to experiment with. A software tool like PlanEasy2D that is simple to use, offers

flexibility and supports a wide array of applications, can make a big difference in theway design/redesign projects are executed. The following points summarize the

advantages of using PlanEasy2D:

1. Cost vs Feature: For the low investment made in the software, you get allthe features needed to plan your space

2. Learn as you draw: The tool has a very small learning curve and can beused by non-CAD people

3. Real-time feedback: With real-time feedback, improvements can beimmediately tried out

4. It helps both large and small-sized companies in planning their space

5. Using the software you can communicate your ideas to architects and interiordesigners.

6. Map of your office space: Use PlanEasy2D to create a current map of the

office space and as you grow, modify and visualize new arrangements.


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Office Design Reinvented - using PlanEasy2D