Architectural Studio – Open Plan

For years now I’ve had a private office … I loved it. It was large, had an amazing amount of layout space, I could talk on the phone without disturbing anyone, and I could turn on the radio and listen to what ever I wanted without wearing headphones. Let me tell you – it was nirvana and other than the projects, the clients, and my co-workers (I had to write that last one), I thought I was probably going to miss my office the most. Okay, probably not “probably” … more of a “definitely”.

See for yourself, it was [angels singing] a-ma-zing

See all the stuff I had in there? [sigh] I knew that when I changed jobs I was going to have to make some sacrifices – and by “sacrifices”, I mean “lose my private work space and move into an open office plan with everyone else”. I’ve worked in open architectural studios before (back when I was in architectural school) so how bad could it be? Who knows … I was expecting the worst.

We currently have 11 people on staff … and 5 places for them to sit and work in the office. Growth hasn’t necessarily been fast but it has been faster than expected. Private office? Even the top dawg had to carve a desk space out of the conference room. Things are “cozy” if I’m being polite, but if I wasn’t going to be polite, we would have to schedule an inter-office meeting to discuss midday tooth-brushings and deodorant reapplications.

This open workspace is where all the heavy lifting takes pace. This space was originally intended for 4 people but there are currently 5 people in here – and I am one of the 5. I have currently hijacked the work space with the most powerful computer because:

a) YouTube and HBOGO videos stream way better, and
b) the person who normally sits here is on vacation.

In the three days since I started, I am starting to realize how much I was missing out on whilst sitting holed up in my ivory tower. Not only is there a lot of collaboration and camaraderie taking place, but by listening in on the questions being asked, I am able to interject myself into the answer process and actually do the thing I am supposed to be doing – mentor these younger architects. The only bad part (from their perspective) is that I am a chatty person and I tend to shut things down a bit too much as I regal these my new co-workers with hilarious (and super enlightening) life experiences. It’s been a long time since I’ve had an office full of people who haven’t already heard every one of my stories like 10 times over.

Once we ran out of space in the open office, Michael (the guy whose name is currently on the front door) moved into the conference room and took over one end. Like all people who have the space, he’s taken over the room in its entirety. [scoreboard]

This is the rest of the conference room – it has just what you would expect to find in an architect’s office – books, magazine’s, model’s, sketch paper, and a slide carousel. {screech} What … a slide carousel?? Okay, let’s say an“older” “seasoned” architect’s office.

We also have a space dedicated to building models – there are a lot of models in this office despite all the 3D technology and capability sitting the seats. There are two people who are almost completely dedicated to building these models – they are currently building a partial model of a house we are working on at a scale of 1″ – 1′-0″.

Yes, if you’re trying to do the math in your head, that’s a HUGE model. I think the finished product will measure approximately 12’x 6′ and will pull apart into 12 separate “mini-models”. All of which will be awesome (because we all know models are awesome)

This is a view into the graphics department – which is currently hard at work putting together a book featuring a history of the projects the office has competed over the last 20 years. The good news is that since it’s going to include projects throughout the firm’s history, I will end up in the book despite having joined only three days ago. That’s one of the benefits of going back to join the first firm you ever worked for. I jokingly told Michael that I since I was his first employee, I should be listed as a founding partner … he was quick to point out that he was on his own for three months prior to hiring me. Damn! So close …

There is definitely some energy that is created when you have an office full of mostly young people all working together in close quarters with no walls separating them from one another. Everyone jumps from one project to the next, back and forth all day long. As an interested observer, it is incredibly encouraging to see how well everyone gets along and how willing they are to help someone else out. There doesn’t seem to be specific ownership of anything in the office and they all share the mentality that their in this together. Despite this togetherness, we are currently looking into expanding our office space, which is a good thing because as of this coming Monday, I won’t have a place to sit.

Wish me luck,