🔒Workplace Rethink: Office spaces evolve to suit post-pandemic workforce

The view from Newman Architects’ new office on the 15th floor at 265 Church St. is not just scenic, it’s a showcase of the firm’s portfolio across New Haven.

The expansive windows overlook much of Yale University, an important client since Herbert Newman first set up shop in 1964. Also visible are Newman-designed apartment complexes like the new build at 18 High St., and civic projects like the East Rock Community Magnet School.

“We can stand here and just point to building after building of work that we’ve done over the years,” said Melinda Marlén Agron, a principal at Newman.

But she adds the view also about the firm’s future, designing projects across the city and the state for a range of clients.

“We were on Yale campus and it was very much about Yale and Yale as a client. But being up here, I think makes us much more about the city as a whole,” Agron said.

Illuminated workspaces

Since shortly after its founding, Newman had occupied a two-level space at 300 York St., tucked into a courtyard behind Toad’s Place and adjacent to the Yale campus. With the lease up for renewal and extensive renovation needed, the firm’s principals decided to look for a new location in 2020.

Top of the list of wants was an office space that allowed for both collaboration and privacy, said A. Brooks Fischer, a principal at Newman.

“One of the biggest difficulties [of the York Street office] was that we were on two different levels,” Fischer said. “We also really had no flexibility – the furniture was essentially fixed and it was very hard to get teams to work together.”

“We had a lot of open work spaces in the old office, which we have here. But they were very hard to use in the old office because you could hear everything that was going on,” Fischer added. “We want the place to feel alive and want to hear people, but we don’t want to hear everybody’s conversations.”

Occupied by lighting distributor Acuity until soon after the start of the pandemic, the 15th floor of 265 Church, also known as the Century Tower building, offered a dramatic change of scenery without the need for a complete space revamp. The 9,500-square-foot footprint allowed for expansion compared to the 8,000 square feet the firm occupied on York Street.

Acuity also left behind a state-of-the-art lighting system that clearly illuminates workspaces without an institutional glare, in addition to a top-notch HVAC system that ensures air quality.

“What was great about this space is it just had a lot of the things we were looking for already built in,” Fischer said.

The architecture firm also decided to use much of the former tenant’s furniture and the existing carpet – serendipitously in a shade close to a hue dubbed “Newman Blue.”

Homey offices

Walking into Newman’s new offices, a visitor is greeted by that expansive view in addition to an open-feeling workspace demarcated by low, opaque dividers between desks.

Whites and light grays help give the space a calming and serene atmosphere. Sounds remain at a low hum throughout the floor-through office.

Part of the firm’s work in recent months has been ensuring the space feels both modern and homey, in part to help employees transition from remote work.

“We were designing the space at the height of the pandemic so I think we didn’t quite yet know what people would want from the space,” Agron said. By adding a spacious dining area, full kitchen and wellness room, the firm aimed at “making the space as comfortable and welcoming for people as we could.”

“Many architecture firms are struggling to get their employees to come back to the office and that really hasn’t been a problem here,” said architect Abigail M. Carlen, Newman’s director of marketing and communications. “I think that has a lot to do with the space that we’re coming back to.”

Newman’s priorities when looking for a new location echo the evolution happening in the office-space market as a whole, said Robert H. Motley, senior director at Cushman & Wakefield. Motley has watched New Haven-area companies shift from “cubicle farms” to open-plan workspaces over the decades.

As this decade started, companies were already shifting away from large, open-plan offices with short-term “benching” systems, Motley said.

“We were seeing corporations saying this whole idea of open benching space is really not such a good idea, because what’s happening is you’re having conversations with clients … and other people were catching wind of what’s going on,” he said.

Now, in the pandemic’s wake, employers are looking to lure employees back to the office with more amenities and flexible spaces that allow for both public and private areas within the workplace.

“With COVID it was a wake-up call to companies around the globe that maybe having everybody sort of out in the open isn’t necessarily a good idea, maybe we want to move people back into some private offices,” Motley said.

Some companies are also taking an active role in “creating a warm, comforting environment using lighting and colors on the wall that are more sort of almost like being in your home again,” Motley said. “Taking some of the nice things that you have at home and bringing them into your office.”

But employers may want to wait out the current trend toward homelike office spaces, Motley said, as the cultural climate may soon shift.

“That requires a commitment on the part of management and ownership to do that. It’s not necessarily inexpensive,” Motley said of adding homelike amenities. “There’s this constant evolution occurring, this sort of churning effect that takes place within the inner confines of office space.”

Wellness focus

Looking forward, West Coast trends like bringing more plants and natural items into office spaces could catch on here, Motley said, especially for firms that want to attract young talent. Making your workplace more sustainable through reusing and repurposing furniture is another movement catching on with employers big and small, he said.

“You have warehouses all over the globe that are full of furniture that’s barely been used. These warehouses continue to fill up and the question is, what happens to that furniture?” Motley said.

At Newman Architects, one recent effort has been working toward getting the new Church Street office WELL Certification – a designation that recognizes workplaces for prioritizing employee health and safety. Air quality and lighting are among the criteria, in addition to cleaning, sanitization, health programs and emergency preparedness.

Like LEED environmental ratings, WELL certification is becoming an important credential in the architecture industry, Fischer said.

“If we were trying to do it in our old space, we would really have to kind of start over,” Fischer said of the WELL process. “It’s supposed to bring you to a level of environmental quality. … We are very close to that now.”