WorkPlace Design

DeAngelis has studied at Harvard under Jacqueline Vischer, Ph.D., principal of Building-In-Use and Frank Duffy, who is a principal in the London-based firm, DEGW. Mr. Duffy states, "The big discovery we've made in the last two to three years is that the design process itself is an amazing opportunity for a business to reinvent its culture. The expressive component of architecture can be used as a medium of communication - one that makes the intentions of the business powerful and ever present. It's one thing to say that a company seeks organizational transparency, that it likes to be egalitarian. It's quite another when you use the language of architecture to say it. Then, design becomes absolutely central to the business."

WorkPlace Dynamics designs how people work together and the space in which they work. We design all aspects of work: organizational structure, culture, performance, and leadership development. We also design the spaces of the workplace: work areas, office areas, team spaces, "commons", creative rooms and more.

We Provide:

Strategic Planning and Its Alignment with Facilities
We can help you create your strategic plan and/or marry the strategic plan for your company with your facilities, in terms of growth, image and positioning. Companies over time need to re-create the corporate culture and structure in order to stay successful. Facilities design is significant part of that re-creation.

Facilities Mapping
We map and quantify all of your facilities in order to help you to better utilize them. We locate all of your facilities on a geographical map and document their size, the activities performed within, leasing/ownership information and other pertinent cost data. This facilities map will give you an overview of all of your facilities and allow you to determine which services should be provided in which locations; which activities could be consolidated; and which buildings could be retained, sold or leased. All of this information is invaluable to making strategic decisions about the future of the company.

Imaging
Imaging is how we state your mission and vision through your facility design. Your facility should project the image of your company that you want to show to the world. The image of your facility becomes part of your marketing, recruiting, and retention. It's the packaging that says something about your organization and its culture to all that come in contact with it - your employees, clients, vendors, potential clients and investors. If you claim to be cutting edge, then you better look it all the way down to your thresholds!

Needs Assessment
This is part of the pre-design activity that is done on three levels, the building level, the department level, and individual workstation level. We meet with department heads to determine their department needs for storage, equipment, meeting space, customer contact, outside vendor contact and internal contact. We also explore the needs for the individual workstations for each job type in each department. We gather information about the organization as a whole and the image they want to project to the public and to their employees. This information is critical to a successful workplace design and can be packaged and turned over to your architect.

Focus Group Facilitation (From Pre-Design through Occupancy)
We facilitate focus groups to discover first hand, existing workflow and desired workflow, environmental comforts, equipment needs, and interaction requirements. Cross-sections of employees participate in various focus groups through each phase of the design, renovation or move. This helps to engage employees in the design process, monitors progress of the physical design, and recognizes the needs and reactions of the employees who will utilize it. This process helps employees to be less apprehensive about the changes taking place and actually energizes them. They look forward to the completion of the workplace so that they can reap the rewards they help to create.

Space Planning - Work Flow Design
Providing a schematic layout of your workplace based upon the desired relationships between work types and the most efficient flow of work. This can be used to change your workspace or to communicate your desired results with your architect or furniture supplier.

Program Development
We create a design program from the information gained through our meetings with you, the Imaging desired, Needs Assessment and the Focus Groups listed above. This program becomes part of the project description and would be provided to your architect as a starting point for their design.

Architect & Engineer Selection
We use proven processes to assist you in describing your project and in qualifying and selecting the architects and engineers who will design your new space. We make the building and selection process understandable and straightforward so that the best decisions can be made.