Evaluating Open and Conventional Office Design

Abstract

In an attempt to overcome limitations characteristics of past evaluations, a con ceptual model is presented as a guide to evaluators in collecting and analyzing data on office environments. A number of components of the model are then examined using data from a study of a new federal office building. Findings cooroborate those reported by others in showing that conventional offices are viewed more favorably by people occupying them than workers in either open or pooled office arrangements. The amount of workspace available to the worker is the most important factor associated with work station satisfaction, even after taking into account the type of work station and the workers' ratings of specific work station attributes. It is also demonstrated that people's feelings about the ambience of the agency within which they work and the architecture of the building influence their reactions to the immediate workspace. It is sug gested that space planners and designers who want their work appreciated by the user need concern themselves with the details of the workspace as well as the larger scale environment.