Architecture in My Workplace

As this week's discussion is about cubicles vs open space, I thought I would elaborate more in my blog about that. I am not a teacher so I will not talk about bridges between teaching and architecture.

I think the workplace must be designed according to the type of work one is performing. If a job requires a lot of collaboration, bouncing off ideas, creating something, one will be more productive when working in an open space. Someone who is advising students or personal issues or working on immigration documents that do not require creativity and collaboration, would need a private closed space. Our office provides immigration advising to international students, faculty and staff but there is a programing team that meet regularly for event panning, outreach activities, etc. They usually meat in someone's small office or conference room which which does not inspire one to be creative. I think that someone would perform better and come up with many more different ideas if a meeting was conducted in an open space with a lot of natural light coming in, in a room with bright wall colors.

Our office has a small open area, it's an area for our interns who work for programming team. It's a perfect place for interns to collaborate, bounce off ideas, and work on different projects.

I also noticed that when I give immigration presentations in a formal conference room, all students are very stiff and seem scared to ask questions. I sometimes pick a room that has more relaxed environment, open, with comfy chairs, where we can sit in a circle and those presentations are so much more lively, students feel more relaxed and are not scared to ask questions. What a difference an open, well designed space can make!