Research tells us that the workplaces people want to come to look like the one above—offices with plenty of bright, informal public areas and less space set aside for personal workstations.
Detroit ad agency Campbell Ewald is a case in point. When the company moved from the suburbs to the city center, it designed the new space to better “energize, motivate and empower” its creative staff. Cubicles and private offices no longer dominate. Instead, the layout is open and informal, with more than 100 collaboration areas.
These communal, unassigned spaces in the office are often called ancillary spaces, and they’re seeing a dramatic rise in workplace environments around the world.