View From Within: Sense of Space

Established nearly 150 years ago, Munich Re has opened offices in many countries around the globe and is one of the world’s ten leading reinsurance companies. Munich Re’s first office building, The Main Building, was raised in 1913 on K?niginstrasse in Munich to a prize-winning design by the architects Oswald Eduard Bieber and Wilhelm Hollweck. With its characteristic elements of art nouveau and classicism, the building is the landmark site of the entire office zone occupied by Munich Re – a collection of no less worthy masterpieces of office architecture. The complex, perhaps, is the main asset of the company.

Office development continued in the area after 1913. Almost every decade new office complexes were raised. The commercial area features business centers representing a variety of architectural styles. Seeking to facilitate traffic from one building to another the company moved to connect the complexes with passages and covered gardens, designed by architects from several countries. The design of each passage is unique. Experts in office space saving solutions arrive in Munich from around the globe to have a look at Munich Re’s business park.

Apart from that masterpiece, Germany has many other conventional business centers. What is common about all of them is the uniform approach towards office space planning. German companies prefer enclosed offices to open-plan. Each enclosed room houses 3 to 4 workstations, Natalia Tischendorf, financial director at Jones Lang LaSalle, says. Natalia worked in Austria for many years.

Open-plan offices became fashionable at the end of 20th century – early 21st century. The open plan layout creates an open space on each floor in a business center, with the number of load-bearing walls with columns instead of partitions reduced to a minimum. The large open space may be divided into as many functional zones as necessary, with the help of portable or fixed grids. It is also possible to do without any zoning, with all employees working together behind their desks, as the case is in editorial offices of daily papers, factories or research institutes. Enclosed areas are stipulated only for a kitchen area, reception and conference rooms.

Cost-saving or Fashion

Russian companies gradually abandon the Soviet-era system of corridors and enclosed offices. Moscow firms have adopted several open space planning models, according to reports by brokers, consultants, designers and ordinary office workers. U.S. office layout design, for example, is different from models common in Europe. U.S.-style offices are divided into a variety of cubicles, enclosing the workspace of each employee.

According to a report by an industry magazine Sovremenny Ofis (Modern Office) (June, 2006), open-plan offices first appeared as early as in the 1930s in the U.S., in the years of economic upturn following the Great Depression. Architects often refer to the U.S. open-plan model as ‘Manhattan’ or ‘Wall Street’ style, by the names of New York’s major commercial districts.

European companies tend to divide office space into enclosed sections housing small groups of employees. Sections are separated from one another with portable partitions. Such plan is common in Great Britain and Ireland. In Sweden, some companies have the enclosed glass-walled office of a boss situated in the middle of an open-plan office. Offices of Japanese companies are similar to those of European firms in terms of layout, Natalia Tischendorf notes.

It is hard to say whether Russia has already worked out its own specific open-plan office model. Natalia Tischendorf believes that Russian offices have incorporated elements of various cultures.

Irina Florova, head of research at CB Richard Ellis / Noble Gibbons, believes that that the Russians still prefer private offices. Yet, a lot depends on the company’s line of business and specifics of operations of each department. A sales firm requires a lot of teamwork and exchange of data between workers, and the European-style open-plan environment creates favorable working conditions for such companies. Lawyers and financiers, on the contrary, need private offices or at least enclosed workspaces with soundproof partitions.

But faced with an acute shortage of quality class A and B office space and soaring rents (average weighted rent as of June 2006 -- $675 to $875 per 1sqm for class A offices, and $395 to 437 for class B, VAT and operating costs excl.), company executives often seek to maximize office space by leaving as few partitions between workstations as possible, which may even result in overcrowding. Tenants and landlords believe that open-plan offices are cheaper than enclosed workspaces, says Anastasiya Khomenchuk, head of office real estate at DTZ.

Office Layout Solutions

An office is a part of a corporate image and office design sends out a message the company seeks to get across to partners and clients. Psychologist Anna Burova, associate general director at Ekopsi Consulting, is convinced that office owners and tenants should not be guided by fashion trends alone, for example, in terms of color spectrum or style.

Stylish interior is important for the entire office, not only for the reception areas but also for all workspaces where visitors are not usually invited but from where office workers emerge to meet their guests.

Seeking to follow the latest trends, companies often fail to create functional office spaces. For example, a reception area in a new office of Mezhprombank, albeit organized to a prize-winning design, is anything but comfortable, visitors say. The space is arranged in such a manner that guests cannot see exits and entrances, which creates a feeling of panic and even claustrophobia.

Employees at the Association of Managers public organization say that a part of their office in the Moscow International Business Center Moskva City has glass walls, which in some parts form useless and uncomfortable spaces, which cannot be used for anything, except, perhaps, dressing-downs of subordinates.

Yuri Nikitin, sales chief at Astarta Prestizh, has reported that lately companies tend to incorporate their corporate colors in office design solutions. Conference rooms are becoming more “transparent”, for example, separated from the rest of the office with glazed walls. Glass partitions and structures are adorned with company logos.

Common space and reception areas are decorated with luminaries. Most office designers still use aluminum, glass and plastic for decoration. Of all styles hi-tech style is the most popular. Silver and gray-metal colored partitions and wooden furniture are in. Executive offices are often decorated with expensive wood.

Choice of Partition

Office partitions deserve special attention. Portable partitions, perhaps, belong to inventions that never grow obsolete. An open-plan office is unconceivable without those structures. They are also used, for example, in exchange halls. Such partitions make it possible to alter the room layout, they are cheap and easy to install.

Quite often offices are zoned with the help of carcass, or fixed structures. Installation of stationary structures is more time-consuming. Examples of such systems are to be found in business centers Bashnya 2000 in Moskva City and Tower near Tretiakovskaya metro station.

Transformable partitions are used where it is necessary to temporarily change the functional use of space, remodeling it as a conference room or a conference hall. Unlike portable partitions, modular systems are fixed on special ceiling rails.

Whole glass walls are common in shopping centers, e.g. Druzhba. But such partitions are installed in some of the Moscow business centers, as well, for example, in Severnaya Bashnya in City.

The prices for those structures vary depending on their type and size, the size of office space to be equipped, and range from $50 to $600 per 1sqm. International companies who launch their operations in Moscow often order partitions abroad.

Buildings With or Without Opportunities

The floor plan depends the overall design of the building. Redesigning a space as an open-plan office or turning it into a system of enclosed offices is not always possible. It is a known fact that major Russian companies and foreign firms have their main offices in central Moscow, in historic edifices developed before WWII, or even earlier, before the 1917 revolution.

Many of those buildings are former tenement houses with many load-bearing walls, Irina Florova says. Redesigning such a property as a modern office, let alone turning it into an open-plan office is virtually impossible. Nevertheless, offices in those building are let at rates of up to $700 per 1sqm and over. For example, this year, office space on Znamenka Street, overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, was available for rent at $1,500 per 1sqm per year.

Office properties situated on Tverskaya Street and in immediate proximity to the city’s main thoroughfare are for the most part low-ceilinged and measure only 200 to 500sqm, whereas most companies seek tenancies of 1,500 to 2,000sqm, DTZ reports.

Capital Group’s experts say that an ideal form for an office space is a rectangular with elevator shafts and engineering systems making up the vertical core running through the center of the building. Such a structure is optimal for creating a comfortable and ergonomic office environment. The shape of the site of the building, entry driveways and city landscape, too, play their role in the project.

Taking a Tour of Moscow Offices

The offices of the real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle occupy two floors in a business center at 52/3 Kosmodamianskaya Naberezhnaya [embankment]. JLL’s offices are European open-plan, Natalia Tischendorf says. Company executives have private offices. Other employees’ workstations are installed in a large open room. Finance and human resources departments occupy enclosed sections. The office measures a total of 2,400sqm. JLL employs 170 people.

JLL has six isolated conference rooms, several telephone rooms, kitchens and coffee-rooms, often referred to “coffices”, where employees can have a cup of coffee and discuss their affairs in a more relaxed atmosphere, sitting in cozy armchairs. Coffee rooms are common in European-style offices, and are usually serviced by a ‘coffee lady’ hired especially for the purpose. JLL’s offices are decorated in the modern style, with light colors dominating the interior. Bene furniture is made of bleached oak. Floors are covered with carperting. The office is light, with windows on both sides of the rooms.

DTZ’s offices are situated in Dukat II business center, Anastasia Khomenchuk says. The consulting company’s 57-strong workforce occupies a space of 400sqm. The office is divided into seven departments, each seated in its own section, separated from the others with mobile felt-coated partitions. The company’s top executives have three isolated offices. Special zones are allocated for accountants, finance department and human resources manager. Marketing and research analysts have their workspaces separated from the rest of the office with high partitions. The office features two conference rooms, a small kitchen and a waiting room for visitors. Office furniture was ordered from Canadian firm Teksystems.

Capital Group’s offices occupy two floors, or 5,313sqm, in 14-storied Capital Plaza in 4th Lesnoi Pereulok, a company spokesperson has reported. The offices are open-plan, which helps maximize space and easily create new workspaces. Finance experts and analysts, whose work requires much concentration, have isolated offices. There are also separate archive rooms. Each floor has a reception area and a waiting room, as well as common areas, executive offices, conference rooms and kitchenettes. Special attention is paid to the reception area, the VIP zone and a show-room equipped with plasma screens.

The real estate consulting company Blackwood rents office space in a historic mansion on Volkhonka Street. “Despite the fact that the building’s design imposes certain restrictions in terms of placement of workstations, none of us would agree to give up such a fantastic view of the Kremlin you get almost from every window of our office,” says Andrei Zhamkin, senior consultant at Blackwood. The company rents four floors in the building. Three floors house Blackwood’s largest departments of commercial real estate, out-of-town properties, tenancies and residential freeholds. Advertising and public relations departments, property management company Blackwood Real Estate Funds, law department and the office of managing partners are housed in enclosed rooms.

“By planning our office layout we tried to adhere to Western standards of office zoning,” Zhamkin says. “For example, the commercial real estate department and residential leasehold departments are provided with a total space of 200sqm – 100sqm for each department – with glazed partitions. Department heads have enclosed individual offices. Each floor has a kitchenette and cloak-rooms.”

Squeezed Within Four Walls

In the spring of 2006, Astarta Prestizh polled Moscow office employees with a view to establish criteria an ideal office space is to meet. Out of 500 respondents who took part in the survey 50% were middle managers, top managers accounted for 10%, heads of departments 10% and rank-and-file employees made up 30%. The poll revealed that as many as 94% of respondents dream of an isolated workspace. Only 6% favored a layout where workstations are not separated from one another with any walls or partitions. 43% of respondents prefer enclosed offices, while 51% believe that open-plan offices with partitions are convenient. The majority of respondents prefer conventional, non-transparent partitions as those create an illusion of privacy.

Employees whose work requires constant concentration experience difficulties in open-plan environment, holds Florova. Even consultants who usually work in teams, analysts and research experts do not always feel comfortable in an open office. Sometimes, they are forced to compile reports at home or arrive in the office on weekends, she says. On her part, Vera Alexandrova, psychology consultant at Ankor recruitment firm, believes that the problem lies not in the open-space layout, nor in partitions or company profile. If someone feels uncomfortable in an open-plan office that means there are flaws in layout design which are to blame on managers, as well as designers.

Anna Burova of Ekopsi Consulting adds that rumors that open-plan offices cause a lot of stress are exaggerated. The open-plan layout offers numerous advantages, and not only in terms of teambuilding. Barriers between senior staff and subordinates are being eliminated, says Vera Alexandrova. “Nowadays, department heads no longer close doors of their offices,” she says.

Ethical issues should also be heeded. Each company decides for itself whether to allow their employees to fill their workspaces with personal belongings such as stuffed toys, equip a relaxation area, etc. Psychologists are convinced that relaxation rooms are necessary. Happy employees are more efficient. No person can survive constant pressure and needs a change of scenery, Vera Alexandrova explains. Otherwise, an employee suffers a burnout. There are different ways to relax. Some seek 5 minutes of solitude; others want to discuss business with colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere. Quite often the choice depends on the nature of a person’s jobs. Experts who work individually are more likely to relax by having a chat with colleagues, and vice versa.

Natalia Tischendorf has reported that JLL’s Moscow offices once had such a room but it was not very popular, perhaps, because it could not be locked. If creating a relaxation zone in an office is impossible psychologists recommend decorating spaces with something that can help employees to relax. For example, it is possible to decorate offices with flowers. “People have different ability to concentrate and relax. Some work more efficiently in a noisy room, while others, on the contrary, are able to concentrate only in a quiet room,” Burova says. That is why, in her opinion, open-plan is the best option. But the office should be organized in such a manner so as to create comfortable working conditions both for introverts and extroverts. Company chiefs should pay attention to workers’ complaints, as quite often the reasons behind their discontent may prove far more serious, Anna Burova is convinced.

Looking for Standards

Moscow has no single set of standards governing workspace zoning. There is no set of rules, similar to a classification adopted by the Big Four of Moscow real estate consultant firms. Konstantin Baranov, managing partner at Colliers FM (management company), says that the Moscow-based Colliers FM has developed internal rules on the basis of European standards and the company’s own experience.

DTZ consultants insist that each workspace should be situated within 8-meter distance from a natural light source. Praedium’s experts believe that each office worker should have at least 5sqm of space. In Germany, those provisions are a part of law.

Cushman & Wakefield, a leading international commercial real estate market consultancy, recently conducted a European survey analyzing the factors behind tenants` decisions to occupy office space. One of the results of this survey concerned the average amount of floor space per employee by business sector. The survey has revealed that employees of law firms have more square meters of office space per person (at just over 17 square meters) than any other key business sector in Europe, followed by banking employees (15sqm) and IT employees (14 sq m). Average floor space in Europe is around 14 sqm per person.

The building provisions effective in Moscow contain no detailed rules as to how many square meters an office employee must have. The city officials, however, have adopted such provisions for their own offices.

In the early 2000s, the media widely discussed Moscow city hall’s decision to reserve a 2.8-hectare site within Moscow International Business Center Moskva City for the needs of the municipal government. The plan unveiled in 2002 envisaged development of government offices between Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment and 1st Krasnogvardeisky Proyezd Street. The future offices were to measure 215,000sqm and provide workspaces for 7,500 officials. In other words, each employee would have 20sqm of floor space.

Psychologists agree that standards are observed as long as each and every office worker feels comfortable in his office. But, who knows, perhaps in the not too distant future most of us will be working at home and the problem will cease to exist. Offices will turn into libraries of sorts, where employees will be required to show up from time to time, to use common workstations and submit reports. Those will be ideal offices.