eprintid: 15302 rev_number: 51 eprint_status: archive userid: 587 dir: disk0/00/01/53/02 datestamp: 2009-05-01 09:36:09 lastmod: 2015-07-23 09:36:44 status_changed: 2009-05-01 09:36:09 type: proceedings_section metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Sailer, K. creators_name: Budgen, A. creators_name: Lonsdale, N. creators_name: Turner, A. creators_name: Penn, A. creators_id: KSAIL15 creators_id: creators_id: creators_id: PAFTU00 creators_id: APENN20 title: Comparative studies of offices pre and post — how changing spatial configurations affect organisational behaviours ispublished: pub subjects: 2900 divisions: BG note: Part of the 7th International Space Syntax Symposium, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, 8-11 June 2009. Please see http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/15021, http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/15294/, http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/15301/, http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/15303/, http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16184/ http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16409, and http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16411 for other proceedings from this symposium abstract: Understanding the way in which design interventions in an office affect everyday users, and thus shape organisational behaviour, should be high on the agenda for architects, designers and consultants alike. Surprisingly, this seems rarely to be the case. Here we aim to help close this gap by studying a variety of organisations in depth both before and after an office move from the point of view of design practice. This paper thus aims at understanding how a newly designed office is seen, used and filled with life by staff, so that planners can continuously and systematically reflect on and learn from experience, and create effective and well-used workplaces for the future. The research and reflective practice presented in this paper resulted from a collaboration on 'Effective Workplaces' between The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies at University College London and Spacelab architects. Insights from in-depth case studies conducted over the last four years on various corporate clients in the media sector in the UK will be drawn upon. The studies each compared an organisation before and after it moved into a Spacelab-designed office. Two different lines of argument will be presented: firstly, results of the pre-post comparison of organisations before and after moving into a newly designed space suggest that physical space influences the way in which organisations communicate, interact, and perform in many ways. Secondly, the practical side of evidence-based design will be discussed. It can be seen that designers would do things differently if they had had the specific evidence prior to the design process. At the same time, difficulties arise in conducting 'evidence-based' practice, for example the problem of time in a business environment where designers are often asked to deliver solutions within days or weeks, whereas gaining a good understanding of a complex organisation may take months. These issues will be reflected on. General conclusions on the use and usefulness of Space Syntax in an architectural practice will be drawn. date: 2009 publisher: Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) official_url: http://www.sss7.org/Proceedings_list.html vfaculties: VBEF oa_status: green language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green lyricists_name: Sailer, K lyricists_id: KSAIL15 full_text_status: public place_of_pub: Stockholm, Sweden pagerange: 96 refereed: TRUE book_title: Proceedings of the 7th International Space Syntax Symposium editors_name: Koch, D. editors_name: Marcus, L. editors_name: Steen, J. citation: Sailer, K.; Budgen, A.; Lonsdale, N.; Turner, A.; Penn, A.; (2009) Comparative studies of offices pre and post — how changing spatial configurations affect organisational behaviours. In: Koch, D. and Marcus, L. and Steen, J., (eds.) Proceedings of the 7th International Space Syntax Symposium. (pp. p. 96). Royal Institute of Technology (KTH): Stockholm, Sweden. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/15302/1/15302.pdf