It often happens that addressing long-standing
space issues can open up new possibilities to
achieve a wide range of benefits. This is what
the National Army Museum has found.
The administrative staff at the National Army
Museum were operating within a rigid arrangement of
office spaces, originally designed in the 70s. The
inflexibility of the configuration of space was
severely hindering organisational development and
represented a barrier to the evolution of modern
working practices.
A design efficiency review of the museum’s
research library offered an opportunity to take a
new approach. Until this point functions had been
segregated and considered in terms of isolated
spaces, each supporting fixed individual
team/department requirements or a single purpose,
such as the library.
Flexible environment and cultural shift
To provide greater flexibility and to enable an
office environment to be created that would support
a cultural shift towards modern ways of working
required an entirely different mindset. A simple
shift to open plan would not be sufficient, for the
following reasons:
- The library dominated the central area of
floor space, dividing the available space.
- Legislation required a host of changes
to improve the building's efficiency
- More space was needed to accommodate all the
museum staff, even if the research library could
be relocated, as some had overflowed into other
pockets of space in the building and currently
were separated from their colleagues.
A key objective was that the new workspace should
encourage a culture of collaboration and improved
communication. A further requirement was to consider
adaptability, allowing for future phases of
development.
While the ability for some to desks to be shared
was perceived as an ingredient in the solution it
was felt that a wholesale move to a desk sharing
environment would present too much of a culture
shift challenge, if introduced at the same time as
the other organisational changes that had been held
back for so long by the existing office
configuration.
Creative and integrated solution
So a creative solution had to be found that would
integrate:
- an understanding of the functional needs of
the staff roles and existing work styles
- the behaviour patterns of public visitors to
the library
- the processes and document journeys
associated with secure manuscript management
- space efficient furniture and storage design
concepts
- the new technology requirements and the
design parameters which govern the performance
of the mechanical services
- an innovative fully coordinated workplace
design that would save space, support
flexibility and deliver an enjoyable working
environment.
A single design concept, incorporating the
results of thorough investigations of all people,
property and technology factors and how they
influence each other, needed to be created to enable
project time scales and budgets (both based of
traditional expectations) to be met.
It was identified that if the research library
could be made 40% more space efficient, it could be
relocated to an alternative floor, replacing a small
under used, poorly lit exhibition space. This was
achieved without any reduction in document storage
capacity and with additional functionality designed
into the new facility.
Hot desk positions were incorporated and
reconfigurable mobile furniture created a
multi-purpose environment. The efficiency of the
design did not compromise the visual appeal or
comfort of the space and the activities of the
library processes have been considered and assisted
by the design. As a result the research library has
become more popular with the public, with opening
times extended, and the space is also used for hot
desking, meetings and training when not open to the
public. I
In addition the flexibility of the space
supported temporary accommodation for the office
staff while their new open plan environment was
being created.
The design of new working environment for the staff
incorporated the following:
- Precise coordination of work styles,
furniture design, layout configurations and
unconventional room shapes to ensure greatest
possible utilisation of space.
- Space efficient storage solutions closely
coordinated with ceiling level design,
mechanical air handling services and lighting
scheme.
- Introduction of new facilities, including
central dual purpose flexible collaborative
working space and break out area, conference
room, audio recording room and photographic
studio.
To keep the project costs and time scales within
traditional limits at the same time as achieving
radical improvements in space efficiency and the
transformational improvement to the quality of the
working environment experienced by staff the
integrated design strategy had to be established at
the very beginning, informing the project direction
and dictating the brief and performance criteria for
the all the work streams.
Benefits
The project has brought benefits across a number
of fronts:
- The New Research Library’s optional extra
functionality provides additional training and
conference facility
- The popularity of Research Library has
rapidly increased, resulting in longer public
opening hours becoming viable and increased
revenue
- Despite facilitating the above and extra
capacity for growing volume of records, the
physical floor space required has been cut by
40%
- The new office space has allowed staff from
previously disjointed office accommodation to be
brought together into a single environment.
- The design of the new workspace has
supported a culture change and modernisation
programme, scheduled to coincide with the
project.
Overall, it's provided a more attractive and
efficient working environment. According to
National Army Museum Assistant Director Mike
O'Connor:
“The Peoplespace approach to design and
project management has transformed the quality
of our working environment and I am still amazed
by the amount of practical attractive space that
has been created”
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