A THESIS PROPOSAL ON

WORKSPACE DESIGN

By

Niraj Babu Shrestha

069/BAE/221

Submitted to

Lect. Surya Gyawali

Prof. Dr. Mahesh K Shrestha
Department of Architecture
Pulchowk Campus
In partial fulfilment of the requirements
For the Degree of Bachelor in Architecture at the

Pulchowk Central Campus

Institute of Engineering, Tribhuwan University
January 2017

Accepted by
Supervisor:
Lect. Surya Gyawali
Department of Architecture
Table of Contents

Background 1

Statement of Problem 2

Research Question 2

Purpose of Research 3

Project Description 3

Methodology 4

Literature review 4

Case Study 5

Program Formulation 6

Site Selection 6

Finding, Output and Conclusion 7

Reference and bibliography 8

Background

In last two decades, the nature of work has evolved as we shift from industrial age to the era of
creative-based service companies. The changing nature of work has resulted in changing
requirements for the workforce, and hence changing needs for the workspace. The
establishment of Information Technology companies with the creative services rendered have
now demanded the necessity to push for more creative workspace design and innovative built
environment to achieve quality performances and results. Since the year 2000, IT companies
have been trying to find the “next big thing” to adapt to changing markets and labour
competition. The term “creative workspace” became a buzz word, attracting key young talents to
the main technology and other “creative knowledge industry” related companies. It has also
become a stereotype of playful and unique work environments, disguising the main function
and purpose of the space, making users believe that the only reason they are there is to play.
Slides connecting different floors, ping pong tables, free food, recreational facilities and any
amenities an employee might need or find entertaining are incorporated in workspace design.

The historical development of the workspace has been rather varying. The industrial age offices
in around 1930s to 1950s gladly accepted the open plan layout. It boasted the concept of
interactive and mass spaces. This workspace design is still in practises. However in 21st century,
there is new found workplace need and desire. There has been considerable change in work
ethics and type of creative based organization established. Such offices and company demand
new workspace planning and concept. The open plan system can or cannot be continued but
certainly can’t be the sole designing platform without any user oriented planning because of the
universality (no user oriented design) and lack of uniqueness.

The workspace design now is oriented towards user satisfaction and service specific. Various
researches shows the workspace significantly influences employee satisfaction, health,
efficiency and thus business productivity. A workspace should comprise of well-appointed
environment with agile functional planning, specific to the users and have the identity of
functions it serves.

There is no particular defining standardization of workplace design. It has to be unique

according to the users and usability which should immerse the users by blurring the work and
life. So all the workplaces should have basic qualities of flexibility, comfort, reliability,
connectivity and sense of place. The variety of introductory approach like biophilic approach,
sensory design makes this field more dynamic. So the workplace design is an exploratory
endeavour which largely depends upon the need of the specific group of users and their target.

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Statement of Problem

In the world scenario where the workplace design has been collaborated as one of the principle
influencing factors for the employee performances and productivity of the services, the logistic
development of suitable workplace concept has been somewhat missing in our society. The
office layout and workplace are conventional in design and is one of the primary reasons for
inefficient performances and productivity. There has been crisis for proper workplace that
thrives to provide comfort, satisfaction, emotional attachment and sense of place.

Workplace directly influences the mood and emotion of the employee. Also the built
environment of the office is very essential in order to determine the satisfaction of the employee
and client. Here in our social fabric, there is poor mind-set of workplace design. This has been
the governing factor for high employee absence rate, high dissatisfaction and poor services
rendered. In fact, the concept of proper workplace design have been neglected to our cultured
office establishments.

The major problem in our society is the dominance of office design over the workplace design
ethics. The continuity of desk-office layout and planning has greatly hampered to the
performance and mental satisfaction and attachment to the job. In any place, having a variety
of workspaces that are suited to different work styles and tasks is the key to ensuring that every
employee can do his or her best work. But the current practises of the conventional office layout
is problem for like high sick leave, low efficiency, poor services and constant change of jobs. .
The omission of sensory design and considerations, including avoidance of biophilic approach
has also led to poor work quality and performances in our society.

There has been significant rise of IT companies in Nepal in last ten years so. Such creative-based
companies are based into business of the quality of the services they provide. Efficiency,
creativity and productivity are the utmost requirement of these companies to render their
services. These are achievable only through the efficiency of the employee working there. In few
cases, we have found the desire in this sector to adopt the proper workplace design which are
rare in other sectors.

So designing workplace environment for an IT based company can be an exemplary of how a

workplace should be designed and so can be an initiation of new development of architectural
progress to be adopted in creating any office or work environment in Nepal.

Research Question
The research revolves around the major questions:

“What is the ideal workplace design? “ “How can we achieve employee satisfaction and
efficiency?”

“How can we make the workplace design of Nepal as a part of the global community?”

The design of workplace for IT professional deem suitable for finding the answers of the research
question and through an achievable goal can be grasped from the forthcoming studies and
design development.

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Purpose of Research
The purpose of this thesis on workplace design can be shown as:

1. To bring the change in the concept and way of thinking of workspace design based on
our social context.
2. To understand different aspects, considerations for ideal workplace design for an IT
company.
3. To recognise the importance and necessity of biophilic approach in design workspace
4. To comprehend the method of sensory design incorporation while creating work
environment

Project Description
“An arrangement in the workplace that has the objective of overcoming employee alienation and
job dissatisfaction that comes about from mechanical and repetitive tasks in the workplace.
Work design is used by organizations to boost productivity by offering employees non- monetary
rewards such as satisfaction from a greater sense of personal achievement. Also called job
design.” -Business definition

A workspace is a complicated environment to analyse. It is composed of tangible elements and

physical environments of architectural surfaces, structural frames, movable divisions, furniture
and technological appliances. It also holds less tangible visual and phonic elements in space
and outside of it that might either stimulate the imagination, distract or, on the contrary, help
one to concentrate. Finally, the workspace is shaped by inter-human relationships, the level of
demographic diversity, hierarchical or organizational structures and different work modes.

The conventional workspace layout has been found to be tedious and less efficient to the
developing service-oriented companies. They are increasingly unsuited to emerging patterns of
work and are inhibiting workers from performing to their full potential. This project thus aims to
the identification of the problems in the conventional office design and search for the proper
direction to mitigate the defects in design in work environment. This project is targeted to
develop the new concept of workspace design in our society of how a work environment is
connected to the users, how they bring the sense of place to the users and how every spaces are
oriented to the functions they serve.

This project inhabits the biophilic concept in a workplace which has been found both productive
and efficient for the users. In addition to that, the workplace should consider the emotional value
of the employee and client. So this project aims to design workplace that exploit the unique
ability of senses to evoke a range of emotional responses of the users. In such the workplace
thus designed will also incorporate the sensory design elements such as colours, lighting,
sounds, textures and smells are now purposefully adapted to enhance the work environment
and increase productivity.

IT Company are unique to our society in terms of their service rendered. The nature and volume
of this sector demand for private, interactive, vocational flexible and comfort spaces. The type of
space it need are more user oriented rather than conventional office layout. The workspace
should have both tangible and intangible aspect interlinked. So this project will be an evaluation
and incorporation of all these aspects into creating a proper workspace environment for the IT
Company which will subject the intangible aspect of the office.

Thus this project will be a new and a better approach of workspace design in comparison to
conventional office design and can inspire for new outlook for the architectural headway.
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Methodology
Research Methodology is a way to find out the result of a given problem on a specific matter or
problem that is also referred as research problem. It is step wise procedure to explore the
problem and select the suitable topic and question. Following processes are thus adopted.

FIG. Flowchart for Thesis Methodology

Literature Review
A literature review helps to have an in-depth grasp of your subject; and that you understand
where the research fits into and adds to an existing body of agreed knowledge. A literature review
has four main objectives:

 It surveys the literature in your chosen area of study

 It synthesises the information in that literature into a summary
 It critically analyses the information gathered by identifying gaps in current knowledge;
by showing limitations of theories and points of view; and by formulating areas for further
research and reviewing areas of controversy
 It presents the literature in an organised way

The literature review also facilitates to understand the situation of topic in both local and global
scenario which can be guideline. Various mediums like book, articles and journals can be used
for this.

The literature review for this projects largely circles around:

Evolution of workspace
Evolution of nature of work
Study of users of related workspace
Concepts of contemporary workspace
Current office design system in Nepal
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Case Study
A case study is an account of an activity, event or problem that contains a real or hypothetical
situation and includes the complexities you would encounter in the workplace. Case studies are
used to help you see how the complexities of real life influence decisions. Case studies are an
important and integral part of any design process. These delve into the depth of problem solving
methodologies already adopted in past by designers.

1. Site (Location, topography, access and shape)

2. Climate (Micro and macro both)
3. List of various activities being performed.
4. Form
5. Colour, texture (finishes) and light
6. Circulation / movement patterns, for both vehicles and pedestrians
7. Articulation of spaces and forms
8. Orientation w.r.t climate, function, view, access or any other
9. User details (demographics of active users and passive users)
10. Approach to site / building
11. Zoning (primary spaces, secondary spaces, tertiary spaces, connections like passages,
corridors, transition spaces)
12. Structure, materials used
13. Technologies involved in construction
14. Services (Plumbing, lighting, HVAC etc.)
15. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic
- (archishots.com)
The following probable case studies will be conducted in order to formulate the program and
incur necessary facts and figures enough to conceptualize the design.

A. Primary Cases:
 Verscend Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 Deerwalk Services
 BrainDigit IT Solution
 F1Soft International Pvt. Ltd
 CloudFactory Limited
 Javra Software
B. Secondary Case Studies:
 Facebook Headquarter in Palo Alto, California
 Apple Campus 2 in California
 Dropbox office in San Francisco
 Google Headquarter, Silicon Valley

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Program Formulation
The further research, case studies and thorough analysis and design discussion will help in the
program formulation for this project. There are various factors to be considered before finalizing
the final programs and their sizes. But the probable programs erstwhile the detail study are:

1. General workspace space

2. Canteen
3. Executive space
4. Flexible spaces
5. Interactive spaces like hall, auditorium
6. Storage and space for materials
7. Conference room
8. Parking
9. Space for interns
10. Creative spaces (Think tank)
11. Outdoor

Site Selection
There are many considerations to be done for choosing a site for any project. Site Analysis is
very important before we initiate our construction. Detailed study of site and its surroundings
will help justify our design proposal. Detailed study of the site and surrounding areas of the site
helps in designing the project efficiently. A number of criteria play role for the selection of site:

 Location
 Accessibility
 Traffic and transit
 Utilise and site services
 Land use and zoning
 Monuments and major landmarks
 Climatology factor
 Economic feasibility
 Sustainability factor
 Hazardous materials
 Socio-cultural values

The site for this project after the initial analysis will be outside the ring road of Kathmandu
valley. The better option is around the Tinkune owing to the proximity from all three districts
of the valley. Also the easy access from the International airport has been considered for this
initial selection of the site.

However, this is preliminary analysis and selection of the site. Above mentioned criteria,
feasibility and other considerations will be analysed before the final selection of the site.

6
Findings, output and conclusion

The proper assessment of the case studies, analysis of new found data, and the research related
to this topic will provide necessary backbone for this thesis. The cumulative result of literature
review and case study will be the reference point for the latter part of the thesis. The data after
the research phase will help to understand the context of workspace design in both global and
local scenario. Also it will provide a rough estimation of the viable and best possible approach
for the workspace design.

The major functioning or the output of this thesis is to develop the concept of new requirement
and concept in workspace and office design. The preliminary study have shown some major
flaws in our design of working environment and office as discussed previously. So through this
study, the expected output will be to create a role model for new architectural expression in this
particular field.

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Reference and Bibliography

Kellert, Stephen R., Judith H. Heerwagen, Martin L. Mador, Biophilic Design, Edward O. Wilson,
Chapter 2: The Nature of Human Nature, Wiley, 2008.

The Design of Active Workspaces by Wendy Guang-wen Ju

Heerwagen, Judith H., Ph.D., “Design, Productivity and Well Being: What Are the Links?” March 12-
14, 1998.

“Using Facebook to Transform the Workplace,” HOK, 2012

W. Kroner, J. A. Stark-Martin, T. Willemain, “Using Advanced Office Technology to Increase

Productivity” (Working Paper, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Center for Architectural Research,
1992

Jinsop Lee, Tedtalks (2013) http://convene.com/engage-5-senses-inspire-workplace-

productivity/

Duffy, F., Laing, A., Crisp, V. (1993). The Responsible Workplace: The Redesign of Work and Offices.
Oxford [England]; Boston: Butterworth Architecture in association with Estates Gazette.