Programming a workspace

Programming an office space? It sounds like what you do to your TV recording device, In a way it is!

What do you want to see?
What time is it on ?
How far in the future are you recording?

For programming your office, it is the same.
What do you want to see? - What functions need to be performed in your office?
When is the program on? – How many square feet do you occupy?
How far in the future are you planning?? Where will your company be in 3 - 5 years?

Gathering information to program an office space requires good questions.
Our first question was determining the number of people.

Quest # 2 is – How much space does each individual person/job description/task require in order to do the work?

Sometimes, a tape measure is needed to answer this question.

In a large corporation, each individual workstation has a square foot, a foot print – i.e. each person has a 6X8 cubicle. 48 aq. Ft. of space.

In a small company, - more likely it is a desk, a chair, two filing cabinets, a side chair, a storage cabinet. For this you need a tape measure is required – legal or letter filing, a desk from IKEA is a different size than a desk from Staples. Draw a small sketch of the space to account for the equipment and for people to access desks, chairs and filing cabinet.

For accessibility, measure how much space is needed to use the equipment. For instance, how much space do you need to pull the draw open of the filing cabinet plus the space of the person standing next to or in front of it. A 14” by 30” filing cabinet, requires almost 30” to pull the drawer open to reach the files in the back, plus the person working in the file drawer. 14”x 60” plus 24” for a person. The numbers start escalating.

For the "do it" yourselfers – sketch it out, draw a work station on graph paper for each person and work area.