‘Creative’ Space Debate Out in Open

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The open-office floor plan – so called creative space – has been a popular topic at countless real estate conferences and roundtables for years. Brokers, developers and architects espouse its merits, and last fall, local real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. moved into space meant to showcase to clients the ultimate in the creative, collaborative work environment by eliminating individual, private offices.

But is creative space all it’s made out to be? Downtown L.A. design firm SRK Architects Inc. released a survey last week that suggested the answer is “no.”

The firm surveyed some 1,000 local executives in a range of industries and just 13 percent said they believe an open, creative work space was the most productive office environment. Nearly all – 92 percent – said acoustical privacy is either “important” or “very important.”

Despite the perceived lack of privacy and efficiency, most respondents said the real estate industry’s fascination with industrial-looking creative work spaces is likely here to stay, and 92 percent agreed it is important to have gathering places for interaction and collaboration.

Brian Kite, managing principal for SRK, said the survey underscores the need for designers to strike a balance between clients’ needs for collaborative space and acoustical privacy – such as individual offices – when modeling modern work places.

“The design profession is often critiqued for designing beautiful spaces that may not work well and this survey unfortunately reinforces the stereotype,” he said. “We’re concerned with aesthetics but we also need to be concerned with function.”

– Bethany Firnhaber