Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Julie Wagner and Dan Watch April 2017: The Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Initiative On Innovation and Placemaking
Julie Wagner and Dan Watch April 2017: The Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Initiative On Innovation and Placemaking
Cover Image: Designers of innovation spaces intentionally offer a number of ways people can connect and collaborate.
CIC Rotterdam. Photo credit: Ossip van Duivenbode.
Table of Contents
Section 1: Introduction 4
Key findings and insights 7
Why the design of space matters 8
Our approach 8
Conclusion 52
of design has embodied a shift away from ‘style’ and more toward Incubator
Where startups are sup-
embracing core values aimed to help people flourish under new ported to “incubate” po-
tentially disruptive ideas at
economic and demographic conditions. an early stage. Programs
can include coaching and
Many innovation spaces networking. Spaces can in-
clude wet labs, dry labs and
have evolved from the Research from global real estate firm Jones Lang office space.6 Reduced rent
or month-to-month leases
preoccupation of style to be LaSalle identified co-working spaces to be the are typical. Tech incubators
form another new and
“slick or cool” to the singular fastest-growing type in the United States, growing niche.
2010 and 2014.3 Other places, such as Singapore and Spain, report
similar rates of growth for both accelerators and incubators.4
4 Innovation Spaces
Growth of accelerator and incubator programs across Europe, 2001–2013
Financial
Crisis
300
250
200
2008–13
Programs
150
2001–07
29%
Compound Annual
12%
Growth Rate
100
Compound Annual
Growth Rate
50
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Year
Surveys conducted across 10 European countries found the growth of incubator and accelerator programs to increase after the financial crisis. Source: Telefonica Global Affairs and
New Ventures, 2013. Further modified for the Innovation Spaces paper.
At the same time, observed Alexandra Lange for the New York Times, Co-working space
An office or working
universities are shifting their development priorities. “Where once environment shared by
people who are self-
the campus amenities arms race was waged over luxury dorms and employed or work for
different employers. Most
recreation facilities, now colleges and universities are building deluxe spaces charge monthly
rental fees for desks
structures for the generation of wonderful ideas… pouring millions and/or other types of office
space and equipment.
into new buildings for business, engineering and applied learning that Many share a goal of
creating environments that
closely resemble the high-tech workplace.” 5 Research institutions, foster connections and
creativity.9
where advanced multi-disciplinary research is conducted, also Start-up space
continue to expand globally, such as the Crick Institute in London and An environment providing
startups with the space and
CREATE in Singapore. resources needed to test
and nurture ideas. Many
offer different workspaces
including labs. Increasingly
Increasingly, architects and designers are tasked to redesign spaces combined with incubator,
accelerator or co-working
to do more than simply house innovation-oriented activities. Their space.
goals are also to “create communities,” “facilitate collaboration” and Innovation Center
Private (corporate) or
“create serendipitous encounters.” Through design, architects and public spaces with state-
of-the-art technologies
business leaders are essentially being asked to re-wire the social, if not designed to advance ideas
and product development.
organizational culture, as much as to adhere to strict building codes. Variations exist given:
economic focus (e.g.,
pharma vs. robotics); target
audience (e.g., companies,
And while people believe that architects generally keep to themselves start-ups, students);
and integration of other
to build shining icons of their utopia, this paper reveals that architects activities (corporate offices,
incubators, co-working
designing innovative spaces—the ones responsible for bridging spaces, shared laboratory
facilities).
processes, places and people—are “catch-all generalists.” They are
5 Innovation Spaces
The creative infusion of large and small spaces, often mixed with programming, is facilitating collaboration. CIC Miami. Photo credit: Alexia Fodere.
6 Innovation Spaces
Key findings and insights
Innovation spaces are the physical manifestations of and organizational challenges. Communication within
economic, demographic and cultural forces. The changing an innovation setting is even further complicated by the
nature of innovation is transforming spaces into open, imperative to communicate both tacit and highly complex
flexible locales where separate professions and disciplines information. This places a growing currency on face-to-
more easily converge. The changing demographic of face communication, where architects are reconfiguring
workers is altering designs to be more comfortable, social the “bones of the building,” creating interactive, sharable
and collaborative with technology. For these and other spaces and, in a small but growing number of cases,
reasons, spaces of innovation help elevate what matters in re-imagining the ground floor of buildings. Even with
today’s economy, making them the places to watch, and advancements in technology, interviews suggest that
sending helpful signals to cities and suburbs aiming the intimacy achieved through in person face-to-face
to become more competitive. communication remains highly valued.
Innovation spaces provide important insights: The growing pervasiveness of technology is driving
firms to experiment in balancing organizational desires,
The “open” and collaborative nature of innovation technological power and human needs. The last 10
is changing the nature of design. Research reveals years marked a tremendous infusion of technologies into
that innovation is increasingly collaborative, involving innovation spaces, literally re-wiring how, where and when
two or more people during the process of innovation. people connect and communicate. The next decade will
Collaboration also importantly underpins “open innovation” offer lessons on how, through trial and error, firms have
and convergence—a trend where disparate sectors retained the value of “human-ness” in the midst of such
and/or disciplines come together as a means to innovate. change.
For the physical design of space, this translates into
creating flexible and highly responsive spaces that allow Finally—given the unevenness across innovation spaces
people, in a range of group configurations, to decide what in applying post-evaluations on design—leaders and
works. managers of spaces, in interviews, offered an almost
unwavering view that design has indeed elevated the
Face-to-face communication has growing currency. While level of collaboration and interaction as compared with
collaboration is increasingly central to driving innovation classic office building design. Their insights are reflected
forward, it is a process often mired in linguistic, technical throughout this paper.
Ecol Sci
Agri Sci Geosciences
Infectious
Diseases
Chemistry
Cognitive Sci
Engineering
Matls Sci
Social Studies
Econ Polit. & Geography
Pajek
Pajek
The changing nature of innovation, including the acceleration of convergence, is leading to the transformation of spaces where separate professions and disciplines more easily mix.
Source: Rafols, Porter and Leydesdorff (2009).
7 Innovation Spaces
Why the design of space matters
Everyone engaged in the working world has been influenced in some
way by design—whether it has indirectly contributed to the develop-
ment of new insights or, at another extreme, exacerbated isolation or
fear. For this reason, this paper offers interesting insights for a broad
cross-section of readers.
Our approach
8 Innovation Spaces
Researchers engaged in conversation at LabCentral in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo credit: Paul Avis / Avis Studio, courtesy LabCentral.
9 Innovation Spaces
end user (CEOs, vice presidents, and managers) of the same space
were interviewed separately. This again was intentional. As innovation
spaces have unevenly applied post-design evaluations, this research
turned to managers to reflect on how these spaces are supporting
collaboration and innovation.
10 Innovation Spaces
Section 2: Understanding the
Rise of Innovation Spaces
11 Innovation Spaces
Benjamin’s Desk (Co-working)
The Hacktory (Maker Space) DreamIt Ventures (Accelerator) & ic@3401 (Incubator)
This area of Philadelphia is home to a range of innovation spaces. Map credit: Google Earth.
Innovation centers are also vague, partly because they are so diverse:
public or private (corporate) space with state-of-the-art technologies
aimed to advance ideas and product development. They are built for
specific clusters (such as pharmaceuticals or robotics) and are used
by wildly diverse groups (companies, startups, students). Like start-up
spaces, innovation centers often include other types of innovation
spaces such as incubators or accelerators. The purple column in the
introduction highlights some of these distinctions.
With such variation in spaces, this research set out to unearth the
design distinctions. The research took a surprising turn, as the greater,
more-compelling story became their similarities. The interview
questions aimed to separate what is working particularly well in
expansive research institutes as opposed to smaller start-up spaces.
12 Innovation Spaces
Some innovation spaces are starting to blend uses, such as makerspaces … … and co-working spaces. Fablab in Philadelphia. Photo credit by Dr. Evan Malone.
13 Innovation Spaces
Open communal space at Etsy in Brooklyn, New York. Photo credit: Garrett Rowland.
14 Innovation Spaces
Photo Credits: (left) Bond Bryan Architects, (middle) Betamore, (right) Perkins + Will.
those who will use the space. This, in part, moves us closer to the
“democratization” of innovation, where workers are elevated
and empowered to articulate how a space should be molded to
support their needs and ambitions. Those spaces dubbed to be on
the cutting-edge, more often than not, achieved their greatness
by aligning organizational ambition, culture and people to produce
a supportive, enabling design. “The paradigm has shifted to include
all users, including students and guests,” said
The ambition of innovation Barbara J. Speziale, associate director for academic
spaces is to help people affairs, Watt Family Innovation Center, Clemson
flourish. University. 17
15 Innovation Spaces
Section 3: Trends Influencing
the Design of Innovative
Workspaces
For the first time, four generations are sharing the same workplace:
Traditionalists (pre 1945); Baby Boomers (pre 1965); Generation Xers
(pre 1980); and Millennials or Generation Y (post 1980). With a changing
workforce comes a change in workplace preferences, attitudes and
expectations.18 A nine-month study on Millennials in the United States
set out to understand the shifting demographics in the workplace and
how offices might be configured over the next 20 years as a result. The
ideal work environment for Millennials, the research found, is spaces
that are social, flexible, comfortable, open, spacious, collaborative with
technology and environmentally conscious. Of equal interest, it appears
that the behavior and work style of Millennials is already creating a
tectonic shift in the design of many companies and firms—something
that has been embraced by workers across multiple generations.19
16 Innovation Spaces
Many architects interviewed for this research also remarked on how
changes in demographics have influenced office design. Several spoke
of the power of Millennials in driving design changes, though some
offered an important caveat: that older generations view design as a
means to connect to this new generation of workers. On reflection,
these spaces are valued as being “age agnostic,” creating just the right
kind of environment to bring multi-generational groups together. 20
17 Innovation Spaces
Trend 1
What happens when three, four, even 25 heads from varying firms
contribute to one innovation life cycle? This illustrates the changing
nature of our economy, which is embracing a new process called
“open innovation.” Coined by Henry Chesbrough, open innovation
is a process where companies and firms generate new ideas and
bring them to market by drawing on both internal and external
sources. One of the latest and more-splashy examples of this is the
new collaboration between Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft
and IBM to publish research under an open license to explore the
complexities of Artificial Intelligence.24 The expanding knowledge
needed to innovate, along with the proliferation of small companies
and research and development laboratories, are contributing to a
new ethos where collaboration is king.25 Today, external sources, such
as R&D laboratories and small firms, can generate the ideas that are
then commercialized internally by a firm, while internal ideas can be
commercialized by external start-up companies and entrepreneurs.26
18 Innovation Spaces
Ecol Sci
Agri Sci Geosciences
Infectious
Diseases
Chemistry
Engineering
Cognitive Sci
Matls Sci
Computer Sci
Business & MGT
Social Studies
Pajek
A global architect uses a similar graphic to emphasize a top design objective: to facilitate the convergence of different disciplines. Source: Rafols, Porter and Leydesdorff (2009).
19 Innovation Spaces
the New American University, suggesting that university-industry-gov-
ernment partnerships are the strongest avenue to driving innovation.30
Design implications
It would appear—largely based on the media, the movies, if not from
the above insights—that workplaces with collaborative, informal
spaces are now conventional practice. A more-accurate picture,
however, is that most people work in traditional, hierarchal offices that
emphasize individual work.31
While not everyone interviewed offered such linearity on culture and its
relationship to design, an important share spoke of how changing social
behaviors and organizational intentions are contributing to how space
is designed. Some spoke of how architecture is largely about following
social patterns: hierarchy reigned in the 1970s; today, it’s about mixing.
20 Innovation Spaces
Innovation is an increasingly collaborative process. Photo credits: (left) Ann Coulter, (right) Andrew Curtis.
21 Innovation Spaces
connect—important precursors to any future collaboration. Tully
Shelly, the architect for Stanford’s Clark Center, emphasized this point,
arguing how successfully designed spaces “accelerate the formation
of partnerships between biologists, clinicians, engineers, chemists,
physicists, and computer scientists ...” 34 As it turns out, different
spaces are applying varying techniques to facilitate both evolution
mixing and collaboration.
22 Innovation Spaces
• In other spaces, open work-floor settings are creating what has
been described as a “new legibility of landscape,” prompting
people to engage in conversations. From advanced manufacturing
incubator spaces to maker spaces to the open office setting,
managers of spaces offer how tearing down physical barriers are
stimulating mixing and collaboration.
• In other cases still, such as at the Clark Center, areas are regularly
reconfigured to support new group formations from 22 different
departments.35
“The space that you design The Advanced Manufacturing Research Center
on moving day will change (AMRC) in Sheffield, United Kingdom translated
in 12 months so you better be the concept of flexibility into a core directive by
designing for that fact.” focusing on the floor. The AMRC is a flexible research
Peter Marsh, space designed to allow manufacturing research
Vice President and Principal Project Manager, Workplace
Strategies40 and development to be conducted on industry-size
machines rather than require manufacturers to scale-
up later. While traditional manufacturers use fairly lightweight floor slabs
because their equipment remains in position for many years, the AMRC
installed thick floor slabs to allow machines to be changed regularly.
“We wanted a space that was reconfigurable, where equipment could
be moved easily with minimum setup time, creating an entirely flexible,
digitally monitored and controlled environment.” said John Baragwa-
nath, executive director of the AMRC Group.37
23 Innovation Spaces
As flexibility is paramount in this lab space, electrical cords on retractable coils hang from Thick floor slabs make this innovation space highly flexible as heavy machinery can be
the ceiling. Workers can move around and still be “plugged in.” Cofactor Genomics in St. moved without tearing up the floor. The AMRC in Sheffield. Photo credit: AMRC
Louis. Photo credit: Matt McFarland.
24 Innovation Spaces
Striking the balance: Designing for both collaborative and
individual work
Just about everyone has a surprisingly strong opinion But putting savings aside, both architects and users have
on the layout of workspace—be it an open office design, found tremendous impact through open space design. Let’s
a closed one or something in between. Some expressed take the case of Inmar, a company on the cutting-edge of
deep, if not raw, emotion about how the right design supply chain and systems management in Winston-Sa-
can magically lead to inspirational teamwork while poor lem, North Carolina. Previously dispersed in a campus-like
design can reduce teams into ineffectual groups. The fol- setting, with buildings filled with cubicles, Inmar leader-
lowing sections offer a few broad observations on office ship found “the physical adjacencies were becoming less
design. and less ideal.” When the CEO expressed the desire that
the leaders of each network have a line of sight across
Open office design their entire organization, this translated into creating what
The ‘open office’ is where desks are divided by low parti- one designer described as the “legibility of landscape ... If
tions (generally 30-36 inches high) or where no partitions you can’t see what’s going on, the opportunity to innovate
exist at all to allow clear views across the space. Devised within teams nosedives.”44
by a team of organizational designers near Hamburg,
Germany in 1958, the open design model broke up the Yet the open office design is far from being universally ac-
physical barriers that stymied communication and the or- cepted. Many workers complain of increased noise, loss of
ganic formation of teams—an important ambition again needed privacy, and being painfully sandwiched between
today.41 In fact, a large share of those interviewed argued others.
its merits. “The interactions that occur as a result of the
open floor plan simply would not take place with a clas- Architects and others have responded, analyzing how to
sic, closed design,” argued Jen Meyer, CEO of the Balti- mitigate these impacts through technologically superior,
more-based Betamore, a technology and entrepreneurship noise-absorbing fabrics, private spaces to enable quiet work
campus.42 Comparable with some and a greater emphasis on separat-
of the ambitions of 1958, factors fa- “The fact is that we’re watching ing uses. One government publica-
voring an open office in an innovation more and more pilgrimages tion, Sound Matters. How to Achieve
setting include a reduction of silos where our people pick up their Acoustic Comfort in the Contemporary
and hierarchies, an increased level of Office, is such an example.46
laptops and wander—wasting
interaction and face-to-face com-
precious time—in search for a
munication, increased flexibility, and Hybrid (open/closed) office design
increased spatial efficiencies. An- respite from the roar and a place Given these and other challenges,
other reason is cost savings in overall where they can hunker down and some architects are opting toward
construction costs. By one estimate get something done.” 45 a hybrid approach where both open
developed by Perkins + Will, an inter- Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871
and closed spaces are integrated
national architectural firm, compa- across the floor. Openness and in-
nies will achieve over a 50-percent cost savings (furniture, teraction is not for everyone. There is a need for a balance
power, lighting, materials) using an open office design between interactive (social) and private (reflective) space.
compared with designing private offices. There are also Even in advanced manufacturing, where an important
greater space efficiencies, saving as much as 100-square share of innovation occurs on the open floor, workers at
feet when converting one private office space to a work- one innovation space found they still needed to carve out
station. 43
quiet spaces to advance them further.47
25 Innovation Spaces
The configuration of public and private spaces varies dis- ies between single disciplines are disappearing, designing
tinctively and grandly, punctuating in many ways a work- laboratories for conventional scientific disciplines is be-
space brand. Some spaces are intentional in creating coming obsolete. Research laboratories should now be de-
thick, soundproof walls in key areas to signal the value of signed to accommodate a range of research activities and
privacy and quiet, others liberally apply glass walls to give be able to easily adapt to changing needs,” explained TH
visual cues of openness, though activities and spaces are Chang, the architect that helped design the Crick Institute
segmented. Nearly half of the architects and managers of in London.48 These ambitions—in a space with intensive,
spaces underscored how powerfully interior glass walls focused research—require striking a balance between in-
keep everyone visually connected. herent flexible, collaborative spaces and not making the
environment too disruptive.
The re-imagined laboratory
At the beginning of the 20th century, laboratories were The new design components of laboratories include only a
constructed using very basic design elements—the lab few solid walls, glass walls, open labs, plug-and-play work-
bench, the fume hood—organized simply in rows for the benches and casework on wheels, smart ceilings (which
individual researcher. Even today, the general concept of allow users to easily make changes to lights and other
the laboratory is one of high structure if not rigidity. Like electrical components) and an inviting coffee bar nearby
other workspaces, the laboratory has changed. to encourage conversation. Managers of a start-up space
for life sciences, which includes wet labs, spoke warmly of
Architects and managers spoke of how changing design how open design of laboratories are increasing interaction
preferences impact laboratories, namely the growing and collaboration. In this space, researchers comfortably
desire to encourage teamwork and collaboration through sit next to each other, learning from each other and not in-
shared open laboratories. As the composition of research terfering with any intellectual property issues.49
groups are now constantly in flux, many described the
need for flexibility and the ability to reconfigure space
with minimal disruption and cost. “Because the boundar-
4
3
2
A hybrid office space for the company Manifest in St. Louis. (1) A highly flexible and informal open office space. (2) Some people decide to wear headphones to block out any noise. (3)
There are also closed spaces where workers can go when they need a quiet space to concentrate. (4) Glass walls keep the space open and visible. Photo credit: Triggs Photography.
26 Innovation Spaces
Trend 2
Over the last century, a string of economists and social scientists, all
giants in their field,54 have come to conclude that firms, if not larger
idea-based economies, have a tendency to geographically cluster
27 Innovation Spaces
or agglomerate because “ideas move imperfectly over space”—an
observation aptly phrased by Harvard Economics Professor Ed
Glaeser. 55 These imperfections include, in part, the challenges
described above: limitations in sharing complex or tacit information
and effectively bridging the different language and experiences across
sectors and disciplines. While there are many reasons driving firms to
locate in close proximity, the ability to share and exchange knowledge
is one of them. The clustering of innovation-oriented sectors achieves
important benefits given the complexity of information being shared.
For example, research reveals that R&D labs in over one-third of
manufacturing industries are clustering less than a quarter mile from
similar firms that quickly dissipate with distance, further emphasizing
their tendency to agglomerate.56
Mirroring the reshuffling of space at the regional, city and local scale,
the rearrangement of space is even more prolific inside innovation
spaces. One of the drives behind new spatial designs is to increase
face-to-face communication. “Getting people to talk to each other
is the only truly effective way to transfer technical knowledge and
advancing the process of information,”57 observed an organizational
management and architect team that instruct firms on how to
strengthen their innovation through design. New research continues
to affirm the value of face-to-face communication within firms. One
study evaluating thousands of sociometric badges (the electronic
tags applied to plastic badges or clothing hangers to track and store
movement) in workspaces across sectors and in different types of
office layouts found that “face-to-face interactions are by far the most
important activity in an office.” 58
28 Innovation Spaces
Mode of communication: Low complexity versus high complexity of information
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
0 0
When the information communicated is highly complex, face-to-face communication becomes a priority. Source: The Organization and Architecture of Innovation.
29 Innovation Spaces
Organizational boundaries the intimacy achieved through in person face-to-face
are the biggest barrier to … communication remains highly valued. This is best
[getting people to talk to each exemplified by how research institutions, for example,
other] … because organization are intentionally mixing disciplines and creating the
boundaries separate cultures spaces to encourage face-to-face communication.
and the ways people think and
do things.”62 Design clearly has a role to play in maximizing face-to-
Thomas Allen and Gunter Henn face communication. Architects, whether referenc-
ing co-working spaces, start-up spaces, or research
institutes, convincingly described the imperative to maximize such
opportunities for more personal interaction. Understanding the merits
of physical proximity has compelled architects to return to the basics,
embracing prior concepts such as the central staircase, where passing
colleagues can stop, talk and exchange information.
30 Innovation Spaces
Design implications
Using the “bones of the building” to shape how to communicate,
collaborate and inspire
31 Innovation Spaces
4
2 1
This atrium creates new connections between two floors @4240 in St. Louis. (1) Natural light can reach lower floors; (2&3) Workers and visitors on different floors are much more
connected to each other; (4) Open spaces allocated for quiet work should not be located near an atrium. Photo credit: Romondo Davis.
32 Innovation Spaces