Haworth HQ: Marketing Neighborhood Living Lab

For the Marketing team’s new space, we based the design on 5 Future of the Office themes uncovered through our research. Addressing these points through the lens of our Marketing team’s needs ensures that the neighborhood offers a variety of spaces to support well-being, equity, inclusion, and engagement.

To support the way the Marketing group works, it is essential to provide technology and spaces that make connection and sharing between remote and in-office team members seamless. Video conferencing and interactive sharing technology supports virtual team calls for people working remotely—from anywhere in the world—giving each participant an equal presence in the room. Even the markerboard can be shared across virtual platforms. Glass walls enclose the meeting space for privacy and acoustical performance, but still provide visibility to the team space. An Immerse Shift table offers posture options to sit or stand for those in the room.

Collaboration with others—both planned and unplanned—is necessary to move creative ideas toward innovation. Every organization needs spaces that enable people to connect socially, think together, do something specific, and inform one another. A collection of ancillary spaces throughout the Marketing area supports each of these collaborative modes, with a variety of comfortable settings for brainstorming, project work, presenting, and socializing—just steps away from their workstations. A Pergola architectural workspace provides an open yet separate large project space with boundaries that keep people together. Moveable furniture and a range of seating options provide opportunities to change posture and position and collaborate in various ways depending on group size.

With hybrid work, the purpose of the office has changed. In line with this shift, the Marketing team’s spaces have become less dense and better tuned to serve physical, emotional, and cognitive needs—with new amenities that entice people into the office. Comfortable lounge seating encourages social connection in a casual, relaxing environment. Some workstations have been removed to make way for ancillary spaces that give people choices in where and how to work. Technology has been added to these spaces for virtual calls, and whiteboards are available for brainstorming and externalization.

We believe the office should be a place where people want to be—safe, comfortable, and welcoming—with a vibe that attracts people, supports well-being, and integrates hospitality. The refresh area offers a spot where people can go for more human interaction. Situated along a multi-story wall of windows, the space is open with grand views of the outdoors and plenty of natural light. This makes the refresh area a comfortable place to connect with people for planned or spontaneous conversations in a more relaxing atmosphere. Designed in a café style, with tables, soft lounge seating, and booths, the refresh area provides a variety of spots for different activities: having lunch, event gathering, quick touch-base meetings, etc.

To be protected from stress and burnout, people need a range of spaces to not only focus, but also recharge and restore from intense collaboration and focus work. In the Marketing team’s area, rooms with floor to ceiling walls provide environments for focus and are important for individual work productivity. They also support well-being through furnishings like comfortable seating and height-adjustable tables that provide opportunities to change postures. Warm ambient lighting, plants, and white noise can also help to restore the senses and create a calming effect that can help the brain to be creative and explore new ideas.