Two of our Student Housing studio leaders, Alissa Brandt and Matt Janssen, give us insight into the unique joys and challenges of designing student housing. They touch on Gen Z expectations, trend forecasting, sources of inspiration and what’s next for student housing.
Alissa Brandt, Interior Designer, VP of Interiors
Q: What do you like best about designing student housing?
A: This particular market is always evolving based on what is happening in the world and how these influences affect them personally. The research is fascinating; students’ wants and needs are highly reflective of the current economic trends, environmental challenges, and social justice structure of their communities. They are pushing back on the status quo and are committed to making a difference for themselves and for others. They demand sustainability, are financially savvy and want real authentic design, not products that mimic the real thing and they are so open–minded and fluid.
Verve Bloomington
Q: What’s something that has you excited about future work in this sector? What trends are you seeing?
A: Design remains on the cusp of what is next. Gen Z doesn’t want what everyone else has, they want what comes next. They are clever and creative and so multi-experiential.Designing for Gen Z requires you to consider all of the possible ways different people may do the same thing and tailor a design to allow each person to embrace spaces as their own. It is about creating opportunities for connection, engaged active behavior, solo thoughtful work, and everything in between for EACH person. One size does not fit all, and their lifestyles require flexibility be built into their environment. Wellness is a major consideration in designing for Gen Z. This generation prioritizes the need to take care of themselves, they crave access to nature, and they think about their health holistically not just physical wellness, but emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being are all equally important.
Q: What’s uniquely challenging about designing student housing?
A: The obvious answer is timing. Everything revolves around the opening date. You simply don’t have any flexibly in delivering this product as students have signed contracts and school is starting, but that is more logistics and process.
The more interesting challenges are understanding what students wants are specific to the University location. What drew them to this particular college/university? You have to dig in, research, and understand the regional and local context in order to find ways to celebrate those, while also being mindful to not over commit to this as a concept as not everyone finds the same idea appealing.
The other fun challenge is staying relevant and up to date on trends, what does the demographic want and expect right now? And even more important, anticipating how these desires will morph over the next 2-3 years while the project is in design and construction. There is a delicate balance between being trendy and being relevant. That is the job of the designer to decipher and implement and anticipate the future needs and wants of the residents.
Union on Broadway
Q: What inspires you?
A: Creating spaces where students begin the next phase of their life. This is the first time many are away from home, family and friends and there is uncertainty but there is also tremendous excitement around what the future might bring and what opportunities they will find. Many will have experiences that they look back on for many years. This time in their lives shapes who they become. They develop lifelong friendships and find their own voice. It is really important to me that the design we provide elevates the experience these students have. Connection to the community, the university and to each other are so important to having a successful experience and we, as designers, have the opportunity to design these opportunities into these buildings. We research trends, demographics and psychographics so that we can provide spaces that are experiential, flexible and adaptable to the ever-changing needs of the residents. We get to consider all the types of people and personalities that will use the space and work to create design solutions that appeal to everyone. We always aim to create spaces that evoke emotion and feeling while also making them feel safe and secure.
Matt Janssen, Architect, Design Principal
Q: What do you like best about designing student housing?
A: Designing a building which becomes “home” for someone leaving their family for the first time, or living in their own apartment for the first time off campus, while they pursue an education which will change their life forever, is invigorating. It is exciting to imagine the effect a place or space you design will have on student success and on an overall campus community.
Q: What’s something that has you excited about future work in this sector? What trends are you seeing?
A: There are two areas which I am very excited about right now: the effect design can have on student wellness, both mental and physical, and the ability for design, and the design process, to open up and create an environment of community inclusion and a sense of belonging wherein all are heard, all are seen, and all are appreciated for who they are and what they bring to the table. The developments in green technologies, including mass timber systems and the inclusion of biophilia in student housing, is exciting especially when thinking about student wellness.
Cadence
Q: What’s a memorable moment from your career?
A: When the Cadence first opened, seeing the two buildings greet us coming into downtown Tucson surrounded by the new streetcar, bikes, and pedestrian activity, it was exciting to see the realization of everyone’s hard work to bring this vibrant, mixed-use, urban experience to this gateway location. That being said, the opportunity for my daughter to move into The Standard at Seattle this upcoming fall is going to be quite memorable. Having her live in a building I designed is both exciting and nerve-wracking.
The Standard at Seattle
Q: What’s uniquely challenging about designing student housing?
A: Universities run on an annual schedule which does not change. As a result, projects must open on time and ready to go, typically by fall term. This creates an environment wherein decisions must be made quickly and efficiently. Being able to pivot, strategize, and problem solve when change happens is invigorating. Communicating with multiple stakeholders to understand everyone’s point of view, what their needs are, and how we can symbiotically mesh the various uses (residential, learning, offices, amenities, …) into a singular, holistic design which helps support student success is as rewarding as architecture gets for me.
Q: What interesting changes have you seen in this sector over the years?
A: It is exciting to see conversations of community and pedestrian activity be more of a topic of discussion rather than automobile parking. More and more, the design of alternative means of transportation in and around campuses, and how student housing ties into and supports those systems, will be critical now and in the coming years.
Vi Hilbert Hall at Seattle University
Want to get to know more of the Student Housing Team? Learn about Jason Jones and Cindy Schaumberg here.
Meet Our New Materials Library Coordinator
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What’s your professional experience? What are you passionate about?
I have always been in design one way or another my whole life. Starting out my career at a design firm in Corona Del Mar, CA. I mostly worked on model homes for large builders in northern and southern California. Moved back to Seattle and spent many years working at Nordstrom as a fashion coordinator, producing fashion shows and trend forecasting for in the northwest and southwest region. Returning to my roots, I started an interior design business which I focused on private residential design in 2019. I am a service-oriented person with a passion for making people and surrounds feel welcoming and beautiful. It’s important to me that I’m resourcing from the best reps in the industry to provide quality products to our architects and designers at AM.
What’s most exciting about your new role? What impact do you hope to have?
I’ve been working from home over the last few years and really missing the energy of being around creative people. It’s invigorating for me to be a part of a prestigious group of designers and architects at Ankrom Moisan. I hope I can have a positive impact on the Seattle materials library by becoming a trusted resource among all the groups here at Ankrom Moisan.
What are some materials you consider particularly relevant right now?
Mindful materials. Thoughtfulness in how and where products are manufactured, the life cycle of the material and how it effects not only the environment in production but also the end user’s environment.
Product innovations post-pandemic. Touchless technology in kitchens, stylish wallpaper with anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, switchable privacy film for windows or glass partitions for interior spaces instead of blinds or curtains. There are too many innovations to list!
How do you curate a materials library that can support the variety of project types AM does (from urban living to healthcare)?
It’s a dynamic balance. The most critical element is open communication with the design team and knowledge of the resources available, both digitally and locally. It helps to know which product types the designers want at their fingertips in the library and which ones they can order online or through a rep and can be delivered quickly. It’s important to be responsive, flexible, and open to changing it up as needs evolve.
How do the materials needs differ between project types?
There are several factors that play into this, and it touches on everything from codes and standards to end user needs to project material goals. The requirements for flooring in a healthcare setting are going to be different from those in a hotel or a workplace lobby. The furniture and finishes we select for a senior living project need to be safe and comfortable for seniors and that often looks different from what we select for a student living project.
Any products or design trends that you’re currently into?
Quiet Luxury. Approachable luxury design with a focus on a mixture of contrast textiles like leather, boucle, wool, mohair, linen, and silks in hushed warm tones and ambient light. This creates an environment not only visually pleasing and alive but also tactile.
Curves. Juxtapose the squareness of a building or room, curved furniture is making a strong presence in design. A throwback to the 70’s but in updated fabrication and colors, the soft rounded and comfortable edges are a new way to add drama and ergonomics to a space.
Rian MacLeod, Materials Library Coordinator
Dignified Healing Spaces
Does design have the power to enhance dignity?
Many of us have the privilege to go about our daily lives unaware of the powerful role the built environment plays in supporting our feeling of being celebrated and respected. As architects and designers, we must place inhabitants’ dignity at the forefront of our design priorities. Our work has the power to create spaces that have far reaching and lasting impacts. Few places need this perspective more than spaces that serve predominantly underserved, underrepresented, or socially stigmatized communities.
To start, what is dignity?
Dignity is the right of a person to be treated ethically as well as being valued and respected for who they are. For healthcare professionals dignified care means recognizing and honoring patients’ capacities and ambitions. While patient dignity is a core tenant of healthcare staff training, it is also critically important to consider the role of the built environment to support dignity for both patients and staff.
Dignity can be defined by four main factors:
- Respect – Respect includes self-respect, respect for others, respect for peoples’ privacy, and confidentiality.
- Autonomy – Autonomy includes having choices, being able to make decisions, rights, needs, and independence.
- Empowerment – Empowerment includes feelings of being important and valuable, self-esteem or self-worth, and pride.
- Communication – Communication includes clear information, language, intuitive wayfinding and directional cues, and privacy.
Here are five considerations for designing dignified environments:
Design as a Beacon
Too often, mental health and treatment program facilities exist in hidden spaces kept out of sight from the public. We aim to create spaces which bring a sense of pride to those who enter. By considering each step of the end-user experience, from the street approach to the quality of finishes, we aim to thoughtfully apply design aesthetics to create a welcoming facility from the very earliest interactions. Welcoming patients, clinicians, and the community into a space that is beautifully designed to support the specific needs and identity of the users is a meaningful way to communicate the intrinsic value of the patients and clients within those spaces.
In initial design discussions, Compass Health requested a sense of grandeur within their new facility located in Everett, Washington. After years of making do with an aging building, the goal for their Phase II building, housing both inpatient and outpatient behavioral healthcare, was to create a space that anyone would feel proud to enter. The stigma of mental health treatment was stripped away by prioritizing a grand, double-height entry and foyer that highlights exterior garden space. The exterior finishes were selected to be warm and welcoming.
Compass Health’s Phase II: The entry design uses scale, richly colored materials, and nature to evoke a warm welcome to all who enter.
The Power of Choice
In design, when we do not acknowledge the vast spectrum of human needs, we strip away the ability to exercise autonomy and control over our surroundings. Design that is mindful of autonomy, considers a variety of mental states, capabilities, traumas, and preferences to create dynamic spaces which allow people to choose the experience that fits their needs best in that moment. Avoiding the stress of being in an uncomfortable space allows patients and clients to receive care while in the best possible mindset. It also reduces negative associations that may become barriers for seeking care in the future. In many cases, mental health, housing, or medical facilities unintentionally strip away the opportunities for personal choice due to logistics and procedures, but thoughtful communication with providers allows designers to construct opportunities for choice and autonomy within even the highest acuity patient types.
The design team on the Alameda Senior Respite and Primary Care Facility acknowledged the importance of choice and autonomy in the design of the new 30,000 sq. ft. facility serving Alameda County in California. The design, which creates permanent supportive housing for an aging subset of the local homeless population, thoughtfully addresses the need for individual choice by completely rethinking the approach to lighting design throughout the building. Acknowledging the impact of harsh or bright lighting, uncomfortable lighting when resting, or a lack of lighting when trying to read and relax, the design team prioritized indirect lighting throughout all patient spaces, designed hallways outside of bedrooms to dim to the lowest levels allowed by code during quiet hours, and coordinated a wall sconce with controls at each bedside for residents. These simple, yet impactful, solutions allow residents to have autonomy over their surroundings in a way many of us would take for granted.
Safety over Security
We deserve to feel safe in our environments, and increasingly, facilities are moving towards providing a friendly face at entry points to help visitors feel welcome in lieu of uniformed security, which can be particularly traumatizing for many populations. Through collaboration with staff and clinicians, we can facilitate safety by designing clear pathways of visibility for observation and engagement that does not feel intrusive. Doing so allows visitors and residents to maintain their sense of independence and autonomy while remaining safe. Intentionally designed spaces which focus on relationship building increase the safety of patients while also increasing the likelihood of positive experiences and returns for subsequent care in the future.
The inpatient floors for Compass Health were laid out around a central nurse station allowing care teams to maintain a direct line of sight to all patient spaces, including the outdoor patient areas. Whereas other facilities require patients to be accompanied by a staff member to outdoor or group spaces, the clear paths of visibility allow patients to move from space to space unaccompanied, fostering independence while ensuring staff are aware of any interactions which may require their attention. Similarly, opportunities for passive observation in outpatient areas allow for easy circulation and a friendly face at various reception desks to assist first-time visitors and clients, as well as to foster connection with staff in various areas throughout the lobbies.
Compass Health Phase II: The building massing prioritized sightlines for the on-unit nursing and care team from the earliest diagrams (left). Interior design focused on maintaining the connection between staff and patients (right).
Whole Person Healing
If we consider the physical, mental, emotional, and social determinates of health in the design and programming process, we can create transformational facilities that help bolster the entire community. By creating space for additional programs and prominently locating basic needs near entries, each visitor can easily access support. Furthermore, designing medical care with counseling and housing opportunities provides a holistic approach to wellness that caters to a vast spectrum of needs, removing the barriers of care that occur when visiting many different facilities for the same services. Integrating community spaces into our designs allows additional social needs to be met that may not be related to specific medical needs, while inviting the community into spaces shared by diverse populations humanizes the experience of those seeking treatment in those spaces.
The core tenant of Central City Concern’s Blackburn Center is to “help people’s health through comfort, community, and safety.” The center, which serves people experiencing homelessness, poverty, and addiction in the Portland, Oregon area also aims to create a supportive housing project which incorporates mental and physical health resources under the same roof. The design carefully integrates a complex series of support systems that begin on the ground floor with commons area, teaching kitchen, pharmacy, and community services. Moving up a floor, the medical clinic supports the housing residents onsite. Housing includes palliative care, two floors of single room occupancy housing, and a floor of apartments for permanent housing, which supports people nearly ready to live on their own. The design aesthetics and function aim to create a fulfilling and enriching home-like experience that bolsters residents in all aspects of health and wellness, truly treating the whole person.
Nature as Medicine
Biophilia states that we, as humans, are part of nature and are inherently attracted to, and supported by, natural environments. Using nature as a tool to promote healing and wellness is a key part of providing users with the respect and dignity they deserve. Many at-risk populations receive care and housing in aging spaces that do not receive quality daylight, and access to outdoors is deemed too unsafe and difficult to monitor. By incorporating nature connections such as views, natural materials, fresh air, and plants into the requirements for healing spaces, we ultimately acknowledge the humanity of the occupants within a space. Whether they are patients, residents, visitors, or staff, everybody benefits from contact with nature through positive distractions, lowered blood pressure, increased resilience to environmental stressors, and the benefit of aligning our sense of time and place with the observable natural rhythms of the world around us.
Early on in Compass Health’s design process, the importance of fresh air and contact with nature was identified by the client and design team. As a result, the earliest building massing schemes explored how to bring nature as far into the building as possible. The resulting form for the inpatient floors is two separate wings positioned beside deeply cut rooftop gardens with a central connection space that serves as the primary gathering and dining area for the inpatient population. Each of the two floors of inpatient treatment have access to dedicated outdoor garden spaces that are designed to allow residents to move freely between interior living spaces and outdoor areas. Beyond the patient outdoor spaces are extensive green roofs which are visible from interior spaces in the public, staff, and patient spaces. This impactful design decision will support the healing and restorative vision of Compass Health’s mission to treat the whole person.
Compass Health Phase II: Both inpatient floors provide residents, staff, and visitors views of nature by utilizing the space between buildings for extensive green roofs.
Why design for dignity?
By implementing these five strategies, designers can create spaces that honor the core aspects of dignity by respecting each visitor and their unique place in the world, supporting their autonomy through choice, empower occupants as they move through the space, and ultimately communicate equitably inhabitants. The resulting designs are spaces which can be as meaningful as they are beautiful while actively participating in the health and growth of our communities.
By Ashlee Washington, Senior Associate
Being Well
While physical health and fitness have been an important aspect of residential design for many years, it’s only in the last 5-10 years that the language – and the thinking – has become more expansive.
Wellness is the new watchword. It’s not just a trend, but rather a powerful approach to residential planning, design, and programming that has the potential not only to improve your residents’ lives, but your bottom line, driving demand and tenant loyalty.
Wellness, approached thoughtfully and executed with purpose, is more than an amenity, it’s a business strategy.
Read on…
The Office as Ecosystem: Strategy 5
We’re all feeling the effects of the boom-bust economic cycle, and it makes it hard to know where to focus the attention when it comes to building a thriving workplace. How much can and should we invest in an office environment when the people who inhabit it are more transient than ever?
Here at Ankrom Moisan, we’ve been inspired by clients and corporate leaders that are doubling down on their workplaces during these unprecedented times. They’ve sought to build spaces that not only reflect their values, but also allow their employees to experience them and live them out in their daily work. This kind of long-term, culture-centric approach to the workplace can be more powerful than any training tool or company retreat, with longer-lasting returns, as the message gets reinforced every day.
Ankrom Moisan, Portland, Oregon
What do we mean by culture-first design? It’s a translation of company values and brand personality into design imperatives. For instance, a company that prioritizes continual learning might integrate an auditorium-style space for seminars, speakers, and certification classes. Display walls might be added near each department to allow groups to highlight key aspects of their work, accomplishments, or projects-in-progress, so others can better understand what they do. A casual meeting area might do double-duty as a mini library, curated with the help and suggestions of employees. The possibilities are endless, but when focused on what your company uniquely values, they also become an exciting, impactful reinforcement of what really matters.
Feeling inspired and want to apply ecosystem thinking to your workplace? Read our full strategic roadmap here, or reach out to our team anytime. We are here to help you and your employees thrive.
Michael Stueve, Principal, UX Strategy
Banner photo: Community Transit of Snohomish County, Everett, Washington
📸: Aaren Locke
The Office as Ecosystem: Strategy 4
Running a productive meeting today is a virtual minefield. With remote participants, on-site attendees, a variety of videoconferencing resources, and let’s face it, more meetings than anyone really has time for, it’s both more essential, and more difficult, to get meetings right.
We’ve leaned hard on technology over the past 3 years, but it’s time to give design its rightful role in the conversation. While what’s happening on screen matters, the places and spaces we meet can contribute significantly to a better overall experience.
The challenge at hand is to make the experience more equitable for all attendees, whether in-person or remote. We’ve heard stories of in-person meetings with 50 people all in one room and logged in to Zoom, so that the 5 people who were joining remotely would not be left out. While a noble effort toward creating an equitable experience, there has to be a better way.
Buchalter, Portland, Oregon
📸: Magda Biernat
The truth is that the implementation of a few design strategies can make a significant difference. For instance, lighting, materials, and color palettes that read well on-camera and feel good in-person can equalize the experience. Room orientation, table layouts, and careful screen placement can bring remote attendees tableside and minimize the tendency to leave people out of the conversation. Thoughtful sound design with an eye (and ear) toward an optimal acoustical experience for those in-person and joining remotely ensures everyone has a chance to be heard.
Eager to solve the problem of mediocre meetings? We explore more meaningful meeting and workplace design strategies in our strategic roadmap, The Office as Ecosystem. Check it out here.
Bethanne Mikkelsen, Managing Principal, Interior Designer
Banner photo: 2201 Westlake, Portland, Oregon
📸: Moris Moreno
The Office as Ecosystem: Strategy 3
The traditional idea of an office was losing appeal well before the pandemic made it obsolete. As wireless technology made it possible for people to untether from their desks, many found they liked working in other environments that, while not designed for work, were conducive to it.
Those environments, such as coffee shops, co-working spaces, hotel lobbies, and living rooms, in many ways represent the antithesis of office design and décor. Feminine, nurturing, and sensorially engaging, the comfort they offer seems at odds with productivity.
Moda Tower Lobby, Portland, Oregon
📸: Cheryl McIntosh
Progressive workplaces, however, are finding the opposite to be true. Workplace design that’s informed and inspired by the principles of residential, food and beverage, hospitality, and retail studios is helping drive employee satisfaction and the desire to be in the office, without sacrificing the need for work to get done.
Applying this cross-disciplinary approach requires a nimble team willing to seek inspiration from a wide array of sources. It also requires attention not just to what your office enables employees to do, but attention to what and how it makes them feel.
As with each of the strategies explored in our The Office as Ecosystem series, the benefit also extends to the bottom line. When employees feel engaged and inspired, and their needs addressed, they can contribute in more meaningful ways to the business at hand.
Eager to see this strategy in action? Check out the full series, The Office as Ecosystem, here, with inspiring case studies and examples of ecosystem-thinking applied in the real world.
Erica Buss, Senior Associate, Research & Information Services Manager
Banner photo: Community Transit of Snohomish County, Everett, Washington
📸: Aaren Locke
The Office as Ecosystem: Strategy 2
Improving an office ecosystem only pays off if employees actually come into the office to experience it. And what gets employees into the office? Studies show the strongest incentive isn’t a free lunch, dry cleaning services, or foosball tournaments. It’s other employees.
That means a commute-worthy office is, in essence, one that builds community. The table stakes, like good coffee and comfortable surroundings, are essential, but the communal energy that can’t be replicated at home is the true galvanizing force to get people there on the regular.
2201 Westlake, Portland, Oregon
📸: Moris Moreno
And it turns out, that communal energy is rarely serendipitous. It’s carefully designed into the space. A strategic approach to desk density can create the right level of buzz and activity without sacrificing employees’ abilities to concentrate. A variety of thoughtfully designed spaces for spontaneous and planned collaboration can get people talking and building deeper ties. Areas for curated surprises and engaging employee programming reinforce a sense of belonging to a company that is creative and cares for its people, while also creating reasons to get people together.
When your employees can get their work done anywhere, workplace design stops being about desks, chairs, screens and printers, and starts being about the interactions that make work worthwhile.
Want to learn more? Check out our full strategic roadmap, The Office as Ecosystem, here, or watch this space for our next installment, “The Not-So-Office Office,” coming next week.
Michael Stueve, Principal, UX Strategy
Banner photo: Buchalter, Portland, Oregon
📸: Magda Biernat
The Office as Ecosystem: Strategy 1
The Office as Ecosystem approach has 3 key tenets:
- The well-being of one lifts the prospects of all
- Fostering connections between people is the primary function of the office
- Productivity is a by-product of belonging
When we think about and design for the office as an ecosystem, we’re essentially saying that if one area, department, or person is underserved, the workplace as a whole will suffer. Likewise, we acknowledge that moves toward inclusion, equity, and belonging benefit not just the person or people for whom they are taken, but everyone in the greater workplace community.
This kind of people-first thinking and design can manifest in small, easy-to-implement tactics, as well as larger, systemic shifts.
At a systemic level, there’s a paradigm shift from the office in service of a business function to an office in service of individuals, each of whom brings different needs as well as gifts to the ecosystem. This requires abandoning both the one-size-fits-all, as well as the set-it-and-forget-it mindsets. Instead, it requires companies to embrace custom solutions, curiosity, and continuous improvement.
Aspect, Portland, Oregon
📸: Christian Columbres
This can be as simple as inviting a wider array of people with a more diverse set of perspectives to the proverbial table when it comes to office planning and design, asking what they need and building solutions together. Truly ecosystem-focused companies might even go a step further and imagine the needs of future staff and visitors, envisioning a truly welcoming environment for people of all abilities and backgrounds. In this way, companies become attractive to a wider, more diverse, and more engaged talent pool, and avoid the need to react and retrofit with each new hire.
Tactically, there are new, people-first solutions emerging every day that allow workplaces to serve the needs of the individuals within their workforce. Straightforward but ingenious solutions, such as furnishings that support fidgeting or fit a variety of body types not only accommodate differences but celebrate them. Visual cuing systems for d/Deaf persons meet a specific need, but also raise the consciousness of everyone in the office about the myriad ways people receive and process information. Imagine the impact when that understanding gets translated to customer, client, or shareholder interactions. When people-centered design becomes the “norm,” everyone in the workplace community – and often well beyond it – benefits.
Want to learn more? Check out our full strategic roadmap here, or watch this space for our next installment, “The Commute-Worthy Workplace,” coming next week.
Bethanne Mikkelsen, Managing Principal, Interior Designer
Banner photo: Fox Tower Green Room, Portland, Oregon
📸: Shelsi Lindquist
The Office as Ecosystem
Our workplace design team has a unique window into the changing nature of work, and the challenges that companies have keeping up with it. Every client meeting we attend, and every new design request we field, gives us a view of what’s really going on in today’s offices.
Late last year, we started to see some patterns emerge in the conversations we were having with clients about their workplace needs. And those patterns lined up with some trends and tactics we’d been incorporating into our projects.
It just made sense, then, to turn those patterns into a strategic roadmap our colleagues and clients could use as they are all rethinking what the workplace looks like. It examines the ways we need to shift our thinking about the roles, both functional and emotional, that offices play in workers’ lives today, with lots of examples and ideas to get begin the journey of workplace transformation.
We call the overarching approach “The Office as Ecosystem,” because it acknowledges that the workplace is an interconnected environment, where the well-being of one lifts the prospects of all.
If you’ve been grappling, as so many companies have, with a changed workforce and a not-so-relevant workplace, maybe a shift to ecosystem-thinking is in order.
Archivist Capital, Portland, Oregon
📸: Josh Partee
Check out the full strategic roadmap here, or watch this space for each installment, starting next week:
Part 1: The Office Gets Personal
Part 2: The Commute-Worthy Workplace
Part 3: The Not-So-Office Office
Part 4: New Ways to Meet
Part 5: Culture First Employee Engagement
(each Part will be hyperlinked once the blog post launches)
Banner photo: Buchalter, Portland, Oregon
📸: Magda Biernat