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Old Posted Sep 11, 2013, 8:52 PM
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M II A II R II K M II A II R II K is offline
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Big changes are coming to conventional office buildings

Big changes are coming to conventional office buildings


September 4, 2013

By Roger Vincent



Read More: http://www.latimes.com/business/real...088,full.story

Quote:
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Corporate America is moving away from conventional layouts where an employee's status is measured by the amount of space he occupies. Instead, more compact, playful designs are coming into favor. People can do their jobs almost anywhere with their cellphones and laptops, the reasoning goes, so let's make the office a place where people are stimulated by close interaction at their workstations and chance meetings in inviting public spaces such as lounges and coffee bars.

- Making underused office properties desirable again may require radical modifications inside and out, real estate experts say. Few owners have taken bold actions yet, but architects and urban planners are scheming about how such transformations might be accomplished. Cutting out chunks of an office building's interior to create an atrium or theater, adding loft-like mezzanines on floors with high ceilings or grafting on outdoor staircases are among the ways that structures could be dramatically remodeled to be more efficient and appeal to changing tastes. Such changes could also make it possible for office buildings to accommodate multiple uses.

- Big changes in conventional offices are eventually going to be needed because formal workplaces where men and women arrive "dressed for success" in tailored suits after long drives from suburbia are dying out, said Peter Miscovich, managing director of strategy and innovation and real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle. "The 1980s work-style model and lifestyle model is over," he said. "I don't think people enjoy commuting two hours each way every day. Young people in particular do not want to sacrifice their lifestyle for their work style." Many of them are moving to urban centers to be closer to their jobs and leisure activities. The population of downtown Los Angeles has swelled since 2000, yet office vacancy has hovered stubbornly around 20% in the same period. Both landlords and tenants are under pressure to make their offices less square — in both senses of the word — as they seek to attract top workers while using space more efficiently.

- "Our office is the first 'hackable' building example," said Gensler design director Shawn Gehle, using a new industry term for transforming the way that conventional structures are used. Some of the best candidates for hacking were built in the decades after World War II, when high-speed elevators and air conditioning made it possible to build tall buildings with deep, wide floors. Their cookie-cutter sameness and predictability was considered part of their appeal. Such homogeneity is no longer an asset, Gehle said. "Now we understand that companies are unique." People also like it when the workplace feels a little less like work, with inviting spaces where they can eat, chat and relax.

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When architecture firm Gensler moved to downtown Los Angeles in late 2011, it demolished the core of a granite-clad 1970s building, creating an interior staircase under a new skylight cut into the roof. The firm also suspended a new mezzanine, turning a staid building into a three-story showplace that hosts numerous public events in its built-in amphitheater.

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Old Posted Sep 11, 2013, 11:02 PM
bmust71 bmust71 is offline
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Gensler is the company that designed the Tower at PNC Plaza in Pittsburgh. It is an energy efficient building that will have multi story "communities" to give it a more campus feel.
http://du.gensler.com/vol4/pnc/
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