The pandemic forced us to focus on the health and well-being of our bodies. Now as we look ahead to the future of work, the same focus should also be placed on our environments. While it is an individual pursuit, wellness is significantly influenced by our physical, social, and cultural environments.

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Choosing the perfect color to paint a room can be a major decision for some people, and for good reason.

Different colors can have powerful effects on human behavior, according to color psychology, which designers are paying closer attention to when redesigning offices today. It’s one area of focus within office design as employers look to tweak their environments to better cater to staff who are working in person far more often than they were just a year ago.

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Tenant amenities are more important than ever in the effort to bring employees back to office spaces. Driven by requests from tenants, owners are looking for opportunities to strategically upgrade office buildings in ways that will drive foot traffic.

The amenity conversation in 2024 harkens back to the urban planning theory of 15-minute cities, said Ann Hoffman, director of workplace strategy for FCA. This architecture firm recently designed its own Philadelphia headquarters, including several amenities. “You’re 15 minutes from everything that’s important to you—the bank, the post office, the school, the church, groceries, art museums, parks,” explained Hoffman. “As much of that as you can pull into the microcosm of the building itself, you’re creating your own little city. It’s convenience close by.”

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Each night at dusk from March until early fall, Austin tourists and residents line up on the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch about a million of the city's iconic Mexican free-tailed...

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Several months ago, a CBRE survey of office trends revealed reduced office space needs among many employers. Fully 68% of the largest companies, those with more than 10,000 employees, indicated they planned to downsize. Some 46% of other respondents planned downsizing.

Of those intending to downsize real estate portfolios, 87% reported requiring less space due to the growth of hybrid work styles. Some 31% reported planning to downsize due to pre-pandemic real estate portfolio inefficiencies, and fully 27% for no other reason than to reduce expenses. CBRE’s conclusion? “Smaller requirements should remain the norm for future office leasing activity.”

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The key is to let workplace form follow function, said Ann Hoffman, director of workplace strategies at Philadelphia design firm FCA.

“What can you give me in that space that I can’t get at home?” said Hoffman. “And I can tell you, it’s not a ping pong table.”

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McCarter & English aimed to enhance the look and feel of their existing workplace, desiring a space that reflected their dedication to a thriving company culture, legal expertise, and strong client relationships. The updated office features a subdued color palette with orange, violet, and blue accents that provide a cohesive aesthetic throughout the space, subtly reinforcing the firm’s brand image.

See how FCA helped them achieve their goals here.

After conceptualizing the office overhaul in 2019, FCA and Fox Rothschild recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a shift in project direction. The Seattle workplace now serves as a test pilot of a new and increasingly compact office size, aimed at addressing the firm’s evolving hybrid needs. FCA took the firm’s initial goal of a 50% space reduction in stride, and eventually exceeded it with a 66% reduction in size. The previously three-floor office was consolidated to a single floor, creating a fully functional space with ⅔ less capacity.

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Office space users are trimming their physical footprints across the nation and in Seattle, where one law firm was on the leading edge of the trend, starting its reduction before the pandemic, which made the term "hybrid work" common.

Fox Rothschild, a national firm based in Philadelphia, opened in Seattle in 2017 through a merger with local firm Riddell Williams. It has cut in half the physical size of its 44th -floor office in Safeco Plaza to 20,200 rentable square feet. The staff, meanwhile, has remained fairly constant at around 80.

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As part of an ongoing series of nationwide workplace projects commissioned by Fox Rothschild LLP, leading architecture and design firm FCA recently unveiled its latest renovation for the law firm’s existing Seattle office. Completed in April 2022, the stay-in-place renovation for the 20,350-square-foot office included visioning, programming, and design. Located in the heart of downtown Seattle’s central business district, the renovated office provides a flexible and modern workspace for staff to engage in while taking part in a hybrid work schedule.

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