Selecting systems furniture often represents a challenge for facility executives. A furniture renovation may seem daunting, even with the help of an interior designer. Options abound, but where to start sifting through the choices?
With so many options and so much innovation, however, comes an opportunity. "Systems furniture can get in the way of how people work," says Melissa Mizell, senior associate and interior designer with Gensler, "or it can support how they work."
Understanding and realizing the benefits of systems furniture requires examining the needs of the workers who are going to be using it as well as how the organization plans to benefit from its investment. Supporting how occupants work is the No. 1 priority.
Gathering Information
There are many ways to gather information to determine the needs of workers. The goal is to identify worker preferences and requirements before any design or planning takes place.
The most direct way of gathering information is by communicating with the workers themselves. Facility executives can draw up a questionnaire or survey (in tandem with a designer, if one is being used). The survey should address whether work is most often heads-down or collaborative, what aspects of the current space workers don't like and what would be the ideal workspace situation. It should include aspects of the workplace such as lighting, daylighting, thermal comfort, acoustics, storage and ergonomics, all of which are important considerations in choosing furniture.
Another way of assessing worker needs is by interviewing a representative from each department or group in the organization. Often, a team leader will bring the work group together and discuss common needs and objectives for the renovation. That can save facility executives the time it takes to gather all workers together and translate specific needs into common goals.
However information is gathered from workers, sometimes facility executives and designers still need to read between the lines, says Terri Spencer, associate, workplace solutions at Cubellis. "In the beginning of a project, we do a site survey and look at their space and even in their drawers," she says. "What people ask for and what they need are sometimes two different things."
To determine worker requirements, facility executives should balance the quantitative and the qualitative needs of the organization, says Mizell. Quantitative needs include the amount of square footage available to work with, how many workers need to fit in that space and their hierarchy, and which departments need to be adjacent, for example. Quantitative needs have always been evaluated for systems furniture and usually don't have much room for leeway.
Qualitative aspects of an organization are usually gathered during a vision meeting with members of the organization, says Mizell. "We need to understand what their culture is, what their values are, what they hope to achieve with the renovation and where they see themselves in the future. Then we marry that info with how many people there are and the space needs to get a starting point," she says.
One benefit of examining the qualitative aspect of systems furniture is that it can be a branding tool for the organization. A small Internet start-up company with many Generation X employees may opt for furniture with lots of metal for a techy look, while a large established law firm may opt for dark woods to portray an image of power. "In some ways, the height of the system panels speaks to how the company feels about transparency," says Mizell. And the size of the workstations, whether they are all the same or varied depending on status, shows a company's view of hierarchy, she says.
Well-selected systems furniture can also have an impact on employee morale, says Chris Vickery, senior interior designer/associate vice president with HGA. If the employees feel they have been provided with the tools to do their jobs and are well cared for, morale will increase, she says. There is also potential for the HR department to benefit from furniture, aiding in employee retention or possibly even displaying to potential new hires that the organization cares about its employees.
Once all needs have been determined, it's time to come up with solutions. Instead of limiting the search to a single manufacturer, perhaps because previous furniture has come from them, be sure to look across the range of manufacturers. Elements of systems furniture, such as desks, storage, panels and wiring capability, will be pretty similar, says Mizell, but each manufacturer will have a different solution to specific needs. There may be a better solution available than what an organization currently is using.
Manufacturers are eager to show facility executives and designers how their products can address an organization's furniture needs. Use this relationship advantageously and ask manufacturers for proposals for specific spaces. They'll often return with drawings and photos to give facility executives a better idea of how their systems work. This feedback can only aid in the brainstorming process.
Instead of coming up with as many custom workstation configurations as there are employees, experts suggest designing furniture solutions around a few broad categories of workers. Headsdown workers may need higher panels and more desk space, for instance, while call center employees can have smaller cockpit-type workstations and lower panels. Usually, a hierarchy of three to five workstation types is defined for use in a facility, whether health care administration or general office space, saysVickery.
Special Considerations for Health Care
While employing a few different furniture solutions across an organization will usually fulfill most people's needs and save facility executives time and money, there are some circumstances where it's necessary to customize specific furniture. Health care is one market where choosing the appropriate furniture is especially important.
There are numerous areas of health care facilities where systems furniture is needed, including waiting rooms, exam rooms, administrative offices, lounges, nurses' stations and conference areas. In some of these, such as administrative offices and conference areas, most of the general advice on systems furniture applies. In health care areas that are open to the general public, however, there are other considerations to take into account.
Perhaps the biggest aspect of health care spaces that affects systems furniture is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), a federal law that protects the privacy of personal health information. HIPAA makes acoustics an important consideration for systems furniture in health care. "Space is at a premium and privacy is a huge factor in designing work spaces because of HIPAA," says Spencer. "Nurses are talking to people in an open area or in close vicinity to someone else. How do you manage that privacy?" Furniture panels with high sound-absorbing and -blocking levels can help achieve some degree of speech privacy.
Seating in public spaces and patient rooms in health care facilities should be chosen carefully. To accommodate various sizes of people and people with varying disabilities, at least three different types of seating should be available in a typical waiting room, Vickery says. Armchairs, lounge chairs and two-seat sofas are typical. In addition, having arms and backs on seating is important to make it easier for seniors or those with disabilities to get in and out of chairs. To further accommodate getting in and out of seating, a minimum seat height of 18 inches is necessary for the general population, says Vickery. That height is not mandated, but it is an industry standard that most manufacturers adhere to, she says. There is also a growing market for bariatric seating that can accommodate obese patients.
When specifying furniture in patient spaces, be sure to use manufacturers who have experience in health care furniture. "We find non-health care vendors trying to sell their products for health care applications," says Vickery. "Some of the unique qualities in health care furniture are moisture barriers on the cushions and removable cushions so chairs don't have to be reupholstered." Other pieces such as sofa sleepers, recliners and gliders are used heavily and must be sturdy and constructed with these special considerations in mind.
Systems Integration
Systems furniture is part of an integrated interior design scheme. The furniture a facility executive chooses based on the needs of the organization will affect other components of the space. It may even have an overall effect on employee productivity.
One trend in the workplace right now is collaborative space. Generally in the past, there have been some teaming areas with seas of cubicles or offices taking up the majority of the space. With organizations taking on flatter hierarchies and real estate footprints getting smaller, areas where informal meetings can take place are becoming more and more popular. Organizations are also encouraging employees to work together, literally breaking down the barriers between people by lowering or even removing panels altogether.
Many of the same companies embracing collaborative space are also looking into sustainability. The two trends complement each other well. Lower panel heights mean daylight permeates deeper into a space and more people will have outside views. Having less square footage and less furniture reduces the amount of energy needed and the carbon footprint. And the sustainable concept of hoteling has an effect on systems furniture set-ups as well. Facility executives should weigh the goals of their organization to determine which ones may be complementary and use that to their advantage when choosing systems furniture.
Perhaps the largest benefit to an organization from properly appointed furniture is increased worker productivity. Giving employees exactly what they need where they need it, as well as ergonomie furniture and workstation set-ups, helps ensure that employees aren't spending needless time searching for things or readjusting their chair. "When people aren't complaining or calling in sick," says Spencer, "they're being productive."
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Copyright 2008 Building Operating Management
