Elastic Spaces

Imagine you need to choose a spot to meet up with an old friend. Where would you rather have your relaxing chat: a busy metro station, complete with the sounds of screeching train wheels and the crush of commuters, or your favourite café, where the air smells delicious and there’s plenty of comfortable seating? Only one of these spaces is intended for lingering conversation, and - spoiler alert - it’s not the metro station.

When it comes to physical spaces, we naturally prefer the ones that meet our needs. This goes for the places where we work as well.

For example, if you need a space to get deep work done, maybe you choose to work from home where it’s quiet, familiar, and free from interruptions. If your work requires collaboration, perhaps you and your colleagues look for a place with group seating and whiteboards for brainstorming. For creative work, somewhere you can listen to music or peruse books and other materials to spark inspiration may be just what you need.

Focus, collaboration, and creativity: these three types of work feature in virtually every office ecosystem. Unfortunately, most office spaces out there expect us to do all of these things from the same open plan workstations… unless, of course, you can snag one of the few available meeting rooms.

Enter: Elastic Workspaces

Elastic workspaces go beyond cubicle farms or open plan offices. They’re designed to meet the realities of modern work by ensuring that there are appropriate areas for deep focus, collaborative endeavors and creative work. As the name suggests, they’re also flexible, changing with the evolving needs of the business and the people who work there. These changes are informed by data that clarifies how the space is being used and what adjustments need to happen to best support the work being done.

Companies like Microsoft, Google, Atlassian elastic workspaces have put a lot of work into developing custom designed offices that facilitate the optimum environments for their teams. In fact, Google even went so far as to build a robot that can inflate a bubble office anywhere on the campus (among other innovative changes).

What’s driving the rise of elastic workspaces?

Beyond the desire for workspaces that actually, you know, work, there are three major drivers behind the rise of elastic workspaces:

• Attracting top talent: The best talent understands the impact that space and working conditions have on productivity, collaboration and culture. To those at the top of their game, a well-designed space signifies a company’s commitment to its people and to doing everything they can to enhance performance; a workplace that gets things done.
• Maximising productivity and collaboration: The business world has never moved faster, with tools like AI and analytical data creating a chasm between the high and low performers. Having a workplace that can move as fast as your business strategy and adjust to your team’s needs, all while being informed by real-world data, is essential to maximizing productivity in a competitive environment.
• Saving costs and time: Anyone in business today knows how important it is to make every day and dollar count. Time is the one commodity that you can’t create more of, and the bottom line always matters. But once you fall behind it’s very hard to catch back up, so if you can find an edge to save time, take it. Elastic workspaces provide just such an edge by reducing office defit/refit costs and making it quicker and easier to make adjustments when you need them.

Of course, these aren’t the only drivers propelling the rising popularity of Elastic Workspaces. Because of their adaptability, these versatile spaces last longer and therefore are favoured by companies seeking more sustainable office solutions. For property owners, Elastic Workspaces can also reduce tenant churn, improve occupancy through faster leasing and increase rental yields.

So, what makes a workspace elastic anyway?

Elastic Workspaces aren’t just about giving employees options (like flexible work) or having moveable furniture (like agile design): they’re about creating intelligent environments that respond to the dynamic needs of your business. 

Successful Elastic Workspaces consist of five core elements:

1. Modular design of furniture and fit-out: A system of rooms in rooms, booths, workstations and breakout spaces that can easily be moved or swapped as required.
2. Ability to change the physical environment quickly and cheaply: An internal or outsourced resource with the capability to easily change the modular components as required.
3. Data: Information on use, lighting, acoustics, noise, temperature, humidity and air quality that informs the changes that need to be made to enhance productivity. This can be enhanced by external benchmarks on optimal levels as well as internal surveys on key pain points and difficulties.
4. Tech: A system that allows the management of user preferences, booking systems and optimal settings for different use cases.
5. Leadership of cultural change: A team that believes in and leans into elastic workspaces, leading the change from the top.

While even just a few of these can improve an existing office, it’s the integration of all of the physical elements, technology and people that creates the secret sauce.

Benefits of Elastic Workspaces

One of the great things about Elastic Workspaces is the way it benefits virtually everyone in any given company.

• For the CFO: Drastic reduction in real estate costs by eliminating wasted space. Elastic workspaces turn a fixed liability into a flexible asset.  
• For the COO: Measurable gains in productivity and innovation. A workplace designed for specific tasks makes work flow more smoothly.  
• For the CHRO: A powerful magnet for talent. Flexibility is one of the most desired employee benefits, and an amazing workplace experience is a key differentiator.  
• For the Employee: More autonomy, less stress, and a work environment that truly supports their needs, leading to higher job satisfaction.  

Putting it all together

Designing and building an intentional space that meets the dynamic needs of your company is no small task. It requires great dedication from leadership, forward thinking architects and interior designers, and a great tech team. Right now there is no single source for all the elements required to create your own elastic workspace, but at Bureau we’ve got the knowledge and experience to help. We’ve worked with a number of great companies to put together great elastic workspaces. From providing booths and modular components to companies like XY Sense to the technology and systems for companies like Humly, we’re passionate about building elastic workspaces that work.