Top row: Vantis co-founder and Vice President Ryan Ware, Bisnow West Coast Vice President Mike Guimond and Brookfield Properties Director Swathi Bonda. Center row: Grosvenor Americas Senior Development Manager Lauren Krause, Mark Cavagnero Associates founding principal Mark Cavagnero and One Hat One Hand co-founder Marcus Guillard. Bottom row: Gensler Managing Director and principal Hao Ko and Bisnow Event Producer Matt Seukunian.
With companies and workers focused on cleanliness and the possibilities of remote work, new buildings will have to prioritize wellness and offer ample flexibility, experts said during Bisnow's Bay Area Architecture and Design webinar Tuesday.
Forced out of offices by the coronavirus pandemic, many companies have since become more receptive to flexible work arrangements and more concerned with building safety. In some ways, the upshot is an intensification of trends already underway before the pandemic, experts say.
Mark Cavagnero Associates founder Mark Cavagnero said an emphasis on flexibility has shifted from a long-term concern to one that architects must think of in terms of weekly or daily intervals.
“I think it’s the idea of not having single-purpose spaces but having spaces that can really cycle through half a dozen different uses in the course of a week," he said.
One product of that is designing offices for more infrequent use, like with the decrease or even removal of dedicated desks, Okta Global Workplace Services Vice President Armen Vartanian told Bisnow earlier this year.
Multifamily properties are also experiencing a movement toward flexibility. Residential developers have cited changes like coworking, bigger units and more outdoor space as all potentially more attractive features in a post-pandemic environment, should remote work become more common.
"One change that I've seen or at least discussed in a number of our residential projects is really just the flexibility of uses and wanting to make sure that we're not just thinking about the next six months, but really the life of the building," Grosvenor Americas Senior Development Manager Lauren Krause said Tuesday.
That means looking beyond shrinking unit sizes to optimize design efficiency, for example, and perhaps adding a nook for workspace, according to Krause.