Commercial Design
A Good Design Begins with Asking the Right Questions
In some ways, office space designers are not hard to find …once you can differentiate them from residential designers. They, in general, are quite creative and become very excited to offer their suggestions on how you can improve the look and feel of your office space once they are exposed to it. However, a really good office space designer can’t even begin to produce a proper office space design for a company without first understanding that organization’s wants and needs as it relates to its office space. The best way to know that is by visiting the site and asking the right questions.
What are some of those questions?
Well, to understand the culture and flow of your business, an office space designer may ask the following:
- How many employees (full time, part-time and contract included) does your company have?
- Do clients visit your office space to meet with your staff?
- How important is collaboration or teamwork?
- How important is privacy within the office?
- What is the flow of a regular workday for you and your staff?
- Are there any challenges within your current office space layout that you would want addressed?
- Are there any benefits within the current office space that you would want preserved or duplicated within your new office space?
This is just a sample of questions an office space designer may ask. With answers to the above, an office space designer can create an initial layout for your company that would immediately address any wants, needs or concerns that are not being met within the current office space layout. In other words, an office space designer that is truly client-focused will save you time and money by doing his or her best to present a design that is conducive to the optimal operation of your organization and best represents the character of your business.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000 sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Mixed-Use Building Designs — The Ongoing Trend For Toronto’s Skyline
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It used to be that commercial buildings were just commercial buildings, whether office, retail or industrial, and residential buildings just residential buildings whether apartments, houses or condominiums. But more and more, we see developers marrying the commercial building with residential developments to create new entities now known as mixed-use building designs.
Why the trend?
Well, originally it was in response to the influx of people returning to the urban centres to live closer to where they work. This fostered increased development in condominiums in certain areas of the down-town core, but with land space being limited, developers had to find a new `space` to continue their development projects. That is when mixed-use building designs were brought into being.
With mixed-use building designs, both the business or retail world and the residential world can co-inhabit the same real estate. For businesses, it creates an opportunity to be close to their potential clients or their ideal employees. For residents, it offers the conveniences of everyday living, playing, shopping and working close to home.
Now, developers see mixed-use building designs creating two new opportunities:
- The opportunity to establish community within the urban setting. Not only can mixed-use building designs bring general communities together, but they can bring people with common interests together. For example, in an effort to bring people with an interest in making a career in the arts, there is a mixed-use development arts and entertainment tower slated for completion in the fall of 2015 in the heart of Toronto’s Entertainment District, which will include a 43-storey condominium development strictly for arts-focused tenants atop a 6,000 sq ft arts and event venue which the arts-focused tenants can decorate using their talents as well as use for their fine arts, music, dance or drama events.1
- The opportunity to preserve the past and blend it with the present. With several older commercial buildings built in the 1920s still standing today throughout Toronto, some deemed historical sites are scheduled for restoration. The plans for these historical retail and commercial sites not only includes restoring these sites to their former glory, but also turning those sites into mixed-use building designs by adding brand new multilevel high-rise condominium buildings atop each site. Some of those sites are slated for completion in 2017.
And it won’t stop there. With a mandate to improve the physical appeal of Toronto for both tourists and urban dwellers, and with nowhere to build but up, more and more mixed-use building designs are certain to permeate the skyline of Toronto.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000 sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
1 Artscape, Artscape Sandbox, torontoartscape.org/artscape-sandbox
Williams, Patricia, Daily Commercial News, $300 million Yonge Sheppard Centre upgrade planned, http://dailycommercialnews.com/Projects/News/2015/8/300-million-Yonge-Sheppard-Centre-upgrade-planned-1009361W/
Tips on Finding a Good Designer for Your Office Space
Whether you are planning to redesign your current office or are moving to a new one, an office space designer will be necessary to take you through the process. But, how does one find a good office space designer?
Well, the best way to find a designer is through referrals. Your real estate agent may have a few designers that he/she could recommend. You may also ask your fellow business contacts whose office spaces you admire who their designers were.
Once you have a few names to choose from, do your homework to help narrow down the designers you may want to use. A good designer would have the following qualities:
- Experience in commercial office space design– There are two types of designers: ones that specialize in residential projects and ones that specialize commercial projects. You want a designer that specializes in designing the same or similar office space as you have or are planning to be in. So, if you are in (or are planning to be in) a commercial office space, you want a designer who specializes in designing commercial office spaces.
- Experience in higher budget projects – Commercial office space designers could have a variety of experience but you want the one(s) that have experience in higher budget projects or at least projects about the same size as yours. Upon your request, a good designer would be willing to provide you with a sample package of examples, including photos and detailed descriptions, of office spaces they have designed that are similar to your office space in size and/or layout. Note: their sample package is a great way to determine the style tendencies of the designer as well. For example, a designer that many have the tendency to be quite trendy may not be a good fit for a business that prefers to stay quite traditional in style.
- Client-focused – It is in the creative nature of a designer to see a space and immediately begin offering suggestions without learning about or understanding a business’ needs or goals. A good designer would take time to understand your business, your company culture, your business flow or style, your company size, your collaboration and/or non-collaboration needs, etc., before offering suggestions for your office space
One of our client’s invited us to their new office space and said, “We need a private area, reception area, a testing area, bathroom….you figure it out”. Because we took the time beforehand to understand the flow of their particular business, we were able to present a design for their office space that was unique and tailored to them. When the client saw the plan, he responded, “You’ve got it…right on the money.”
My point: A designer with the above qualities is sure to help you design your office space in a way that is ideal for your business.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931, email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
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