2 min read March 2023 — In an interview with Invest:, Irene Vogelsong, associate principal and practice leader at architecture and design firm Perkins&Will, talked about designing office spaces with a greater focus on amenities in an effort to bring employees back to the office, how inflation and labor have affected the market and what makes Charlotte an amazing place to live and work.
What strategies have you been developing over the course of the last year and for the future to navigate an evolving environment?
We are working with our clients to re-envision the workplace to better support employees. The goals of the workplace have shifted into providing those employee services that are drawing people back to the office. We are providing a variety of space types, such as business hubs, to support different activities. Hospitality is front and center, more than it has ever been. Companies are providing hospitality services for clients and employees in social settings to allow for more in person engagement. Outdoor workspace is being requested by our clients more than ever before. Our weather in the Carolinas allows for outdoor work for most of the year, and employees love having access to this.
Is there a concerted push to bring people back into the office and what is the office of the future going to look like?
I see a big push to bring people back into the physical office. There will always be transactional roles that can be done more effectively remotely, yet for those roles that are more effective collaborating in person, building workplace culture, trust and engagement, nothing beats the physical office. The workplace is being re-envisioned and redesigned for better, more meaningful in-person engagement. By re-allocating underutilized space to accommodate hybrid work, we can design better space for in-person engagement. The goal is to have a variety of different space types that respond to different individual needs. We should also keep in mind that while there was a group of people who did thrive from being at home, there was also a group of people who performed better professionally and personally by coming into the office. That is why designing for different ways of learning has become more of a priority for employers as well. We can have social settings in which people engage on different levels, whether it’s more intimate social settings that are quieter but still allow for that one-on-one engagement, or smaller group settings, and those social settings that have more of an energy and buzz to it. For example, the more energetic social setting can be centered around a Barista bar where conversations are happening in an open environment with the hissing of the coffee machines in the background. Quieter settings are more intimate architecturally, perhaps with more outfacing views, and host a smaller number of people. We are also seeing more pet friendly workspaces, as there were many pets adopted during COVID. These spaces may include outdoor play and relief areas, doggy daycares, and full floors where pets can work alongside their pet parents.
As we pilot many of these space types, our clients are asking for flexibility in how we program and build the workplace. This will allow for the evolution of space types, as we continue to adapt and evolve in the post pandemic work environment.
What strategies have you adopted to address the way in which inflation and labor has affected your business?
Construction, labor costs, lead times — all of that is very much part of the equation. We are seeing projects compromised due to the change in the market rates. However, there is still a lot of new project activity. Commercial financing availability is playing a role in commercial development projects, whether they move forward or not. Projects that are funded internally by corporations, however, seem to be moving forward and at an accelerated pace. From a labor standpoint, there’s an overarching labor shortage, which is also affecting lead times for materials, especially for custom items like millwork and furniture. Due to these delays in production, we are seeing projects delivered in multiple phases to keep them moving along.
What makes Charlotte a great place to live and work?
Charlotte is very eclectic, has a great mix of culture that is local, regional, and international due to the presence of so many individuals who are from different places. Charlotte is nestled in the Piedmont, which is between the mountains and the beaches. This creates a unique type of lifestyle where you can be in the mountains or at the beach within the same day. We can see the influence of our geography and cultural melting pot in the types of food and entertainment venues that we have available. This type of dynamic lifestyle becomes a big draw for corporations as they look to find their next place for expansion or relocation and their employee offerings tied to geography.
What is Perkins&Will’s outlook for the next two to three years?
We are partnering with clients that share our values, and hiring the best talent as we continue our growth in the design services that we offer. We are research-driven, and use our research to inform our work across all our practice areas – urban design, landscape, workplace, strategic planning, corporate, commercial, cultural and civic, healthcare, and higher education. As such, we can leverage research and best practices across all these project typologies, achieving forward-thinking design solutions that inform each other.
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