I would like to explore why there is a negative studio culture in my architectural office. Now don't get me wrong, people come into the office, day in day out, buildings get designed and constructed, the firm, monetarily, is doing well. There is something missing. The studio environment is bland. Complaints about "work" are high. Very few people actually want to be in the office. There is not many positive vibes in the office. Lack of energy and enthusiasm would adequately describe the office as well.
After visiting Cambridge 7 's office, the intangible became evident. How the office is organized/built (the built environment) effects the overall studio culture of the firm. To go further, the studio culture effects how people perceive going to work. To go even further, the studio culture and how people perceive going to work, effects the quality of output. (Output the services rendered to our consultants).
Why does this matter? The firm has set a goal to be a "destination" firm for the architectural profession, with an emphasis on young professionals. Several "programs" have been started to accomplish this goal. The studio atmosphere remains unchanged. A positive studio culture will improve moral in the firm. The moral will improve the quality of services rendered. More people will want to stay with the firm. More people will be attracted to the firm. So on and so forth. A continuous cycle will happen.
How will this materialize into a paper? Research paper to be exact.
1) Book research on office design. Several books have been written about the the changing office environment, including several on architects offices. This should give me a good baseline on what academia thinks is a good architects office design.
2) Take a cross section of offices from the cohort. Ask everyone to send in an office plan, picture of the office or the like. Also, ask across the board what they like don't like about their office. What is their culture like. Etc, Etc. A questionnaire of sorts.
3) A questionnaire for employees in my office. This should give me a good idea if what I have observed is true, or if I am crazy and just need to quit my job.
4) Possibly visit other architecture offices in my area to compare.
5) Observations in my office. One good one is to see where people eat. At their desk, conference room, out at a restaurant, etc.
The above should give me a basis for what are the problems within the office that negatively effect the studio culture. From this, I should be able to deduce a solution to fix the problem.
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5 comments:
Hi ya Nick-
I think your paper could be interesting. You are right there have been many books and other papers on this topic, and maybe you could test out some of the ideas from these resources. In addition to improving the office environment maybe look at situations outside of the office that could be taken advantage of. Getting to know each other outside of the office could improve the inside the office environment (I know this from personal experience). This is something that C7A mentioned they do as well. Keep the mind reeling...you've got some good thoughts going.
Hi Nick,
You have a great outline for success pertaining to how you can tackle all of your tasks. We talked briefly about visiting other firms and such, here is the address for DLR Group (where I work) in Chicago: 222 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2220 Ph: 312-383-9980. As we discussed, they have quite a different culture than I even have here at my office in Minneapolis, yet we all work for the same company. Check it out if you have some time. I'm in the process of digging up some photos and a floor plan of my office. I'll email it over to you when I pull it all together.
Another thought would be to study some architectural school's studio culture and see how/if that compares to your work's culture. For instance, it would be interesting to look at how Frank Lloyd Wright's School Taliesen West's studio culture varies from that of UIC's. Again, the most important thing here is not what is right or wrong, because I don't think that there is such thing, but how it affects the people that inhabit these spaces.
Good Luck with everything!
Nick –
I am very interested in your topic and to see what you find.
I would have to say that our office was setup and laid out in a great way. We have an abundance of windows including clerestory windows. Nice conference rooms, an open floor plan, a nice private patio with a small pond, and a high end kitchen. But, like you, there is something missing. The togetherness is not there. The people are individuals do not work as a team and I think that is a big down fall.
I would be curious to look at how game rooms affect moral and efficiency. One office that I worked for during my undergraduate had a fuse ball table. Everyday at lunch there would be 10-15 people in line wanting to play. It got you up, moving, talking, laughing, and forgetting about work for a little while. It was something that you could look forward too through out the day. It brought competition to the office that was not related to work. It was nice to have.
I will start looking for a floor plan of our office and if not, I can send pictures that you can look at. It is a small office; a few pictures would take care of it.
Let me know how it goes, I am very interested in your topic.
Hi Nick! I think you have a great topic and I can't wait to pass your paper around my office. JUst yesterday I was looking at this list: http://www.zweigwhite.com/news/item.asp?prID=329
Its of the best arch firms to work for in the country. What I found on their website was this: "The firms were selected based on their commitment to provide a positive work environment and challenging and interesting design opportunities for their employees." But a better explanation was not listed. Let me know if you find it.
I also think you could learn a lot by looking at the best overall companies like Google. I just saw that they have free bikes on their "campus" for employees and they will rent out movie theaters for the day to see a new release. Sounds like a big part of having a cool job is when the employer remembers that you have a life beyond your laptop.
Can't wait to see what you come up with!
I think that the idea of doing empirical research on your own workplace will be crucial. There was a guy back in the '70s who was studying the activities that brought joy to our lives; he ended up having his research subjects wearing pagers and carrying a diary, and he'd page them at random times of the day and evening. When they got buzzed, the respondents wrote down a sentence about what they were doing, and then one word that described their emotional state. Imagine doing that through e-mail with your colleagues for a week...
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