This book deals with the problems that are created when employers try to decrease the size of individual offices and workstations in order to increase work efficiency. Employees, who often regard their workspace as a "home from home," a retreat and a space that symbolizes their status and marks their territory feel threatened by this attempt to shrink "their" room.
Jacqueline Vischer summarizes significant research findings on office-space design and behavior from fields such as environmental psychology, architecture and interior design, employing terms that are accessible and interesting to practicing designers as well as business managers. Examples and case studies illustrate how space is a corporate resource, and how companies can improve their design decisions.
The book also examines the practical aspects of planning workspace for users. Worker productivity and stress levels are affected by lighting, ventilation, temperature, noise, and furniture layout. This book takes a new approach by showing how the technical aspects of human comfort in terms of building systems does not always tally with users' perceptions and behavior. By understanding more about how these factors affect work performance, corporate managers and design professionals can plan, design and manage the layout of the work environment more effectively.

This book deals with the problems that are created when employers try to decrease the size of individual offices and workstations in order to increase work efficiency. Employees, who often regard their workspace as a "home from home," a retreat and a space that symbolizes their status and marks their territory feel threatened by this attempt to shrink "their" room.
Jacqueline Vischer summarizes significant research findings on office-space design and behavior from fields such as environmental psychology, architecture and interior design, employing terms that are accessible and interesting to practicing designers as well as business managers. Examples and case studies illustrate how space is a corporate resource, and how companies can improve their design decisions.
The book also examines the practical aspects of planning workspace for users. Worker productivity and stress levels are affected by lighting, ventilation, temperature, noise, and furniture layout. This book takes a new approach by showing how the technical aspects of human comfort in terms of building systems does not always tally with users' perceptions and behavior. By understanding more about how these factors affect work performance, corporate managers and design professionals can plan, design and manage the layout of the work environment more effectively.

Create workspace that supports business strategies

Space is an organization's second most valuable asset. Yet little attention is paid to how it supports the new ways in which today's organizations operate---teamwork, flattened hierarchies, telecommuting, collaborating across functions. Workplace by Design shows CEOs and managers alike how to put aside and rethink conventional, awkward notions of space utilization based on hierarchy and status--notions that pit people against each other in turf wars, tear apart teams, and tie up company cash. Using illustrative examples from Digital Equipment Corporation, Steelcase, and others, the authors show how team environments, non-territorial offices and other strategies can support business objectives, energize employees, and produce a more competitive organization.