Focus and collaboration: test the office at its busiest overlap

Draw one busy moment

Choose a recognisable part of your working week. On a copy of the proposed plan, mark where people would be during that moment. Include conversations that happen without a calendar invitation: someone explaining a problem, a visitor arriving or two colleagues comparing work.

In a hypothetical studio, a project discussion starts at the shared table while someone nearby checks a detailed document and another person joins a video call. All three activities belong in the workplace. The question is whether they can happen together in the places shown.

I would ask the designer to explore where the discussion could move without becoming a nuisance to organise. If every brief exchange requires booking the only meeting room, test what happens when that room is occupied.

• Which activities need people to speak freely?
• Which need sustained attention?
• Where can an unexpected conversation continue?

Check the journey past the quiet seats

Trace the routes to the kitchen, printer, meeting rooms and exit across the same plan. A desk labelled 'focus' deserves a closer look if everyone passes behind it to collect a coffee. Ask what the person sitting there would see as well as what they might hear.

I would compare arrangements that put frequently visited destinations nearer the conversational areas. Keep the team connected, but examine whether every everyday journey has to cross the place intended for concentration.

Australia's Comcare recommends designing office space around the functions being performed and setting expectations about where conversations and conference calls happen. I would use that as a practical prompt for this exercise, rather than as a New Zealand compliance checklist.

Give each room a clear job

A quiet room could mean somewhere to read without interruption, somewhere to make a call or somewhere to discuss confidential information. I would avoid putting all three expectations under one label. Write down the intended use before choosing the room's position and construction.

For a proposed enclosure, ask the team how the walls, door and building services will support that use, and whether acoustic advice is needed. A closed door on the drawing is not evidence that a conversation will be private.

Also agree how the room will be used day to day. Can someone drop in for a short task? Can it be booked for a whole afternoon? Where should a caller go when it is full? These decisions help reveal whether the layout needs another option.

• Is this a silent workspace, a call room or a meeting room?
• What should someone outside it be able to hear?
• How will people know whether it is available?

Keep the social qualities you value

Separation need not mean removing everything that makes the office welcoming. Identify the shared places people value, then check what happens around their edges. A social table might stay, with a more deliberate relationship to the quieter work areas.

Jonty's published feedback on the Aro Digital redesign describes valuing the existing space's character. That is a useful consideration alongside the activity test; it does not establish an acoustic result.

Bring a marked plan showing one busy overlap and a short description of what each room should do. We can talk through the competing activities and identify which layout options deserve further investigation.