Lewis Goetz

Amid the marble columns and solemn memorials of our nation's capital, one imaginative architecture firm is introducing creativity, variation, and strategy into spaces where tradition and functionality once ruled unopposed. That firm, Greenwell Goetz Architects, has straddled both convention and innovation for the last 21 years. It has constructed workspaces for the staid and sturdy I.R.S., State Department, and NASA. It has also created smooth schemes of look + feel for new economy powerhouses like Microsoft, PeopleSoft, and Lucent Technologies.

Two decades, more than one hundred clients, and over 50 million square feet later, co-founder Lewis Goetz reflects on the changing priorities in workplace design, the fresh opportunities now available for free-thinking architects, and the renewed importance of projecting a harmonious image to clients and employees.

How have design priorities - comfort levels, aesthetics, etc. - changed since the birth of Greenwell Goetz Architects, and where do those priorities stand today?

We look at design like a strategic business tool that helps the company operate more effectively. Obviously you need to accommodate the basic needs of the business, but we also aim to provide flexibility and adaptability for companies that are changing so fast. The facilities that accommodate these companies need to adapt and change as well. And they need to do it in an easy way; they need to do it in a cost-effective way.

The space also needs to have the right image. And I don't just mean that it needs to look nice. It also wants to project the right image. By the time a visitor walks from the front door to the reception desk they have a perception of what that company's about just based on the image of their facility. When somebody comes to be interviewed for a job, they immediately have an image of what this place wants to be. So the image is really important. People have put that on the back burner for the last few years, but it does have an effect on your people, your customers, and even your shareholders.

We're also looking to just enhance the quality of work life, which means we want to make sure that the space is comfortable, healthful, and safe. It must have the right lighting, the chairs must be ergonomic and comfortable. Computer trays must move and adjust to people's postures, work surfaces potentially must move up and down or adjust to accommodate different people. We all come in different sizes and shapes, and furniture needs to adjust just ever so slightly, but needs to adjust to accommodate people to make them more productive.

And then we look at the layout of the office to make sure the flow of the space works, and in fact doesn't encumber how people work, but it actually enhances and makes it easier for people to work. We like the idea of putting people in spaces that help collaboration or help teamwork -- giving people more opportunities to work in different places so that they can actually work together better. A lot of work today is not just individual work, but it's working in a group and you must have the right kind of spaces to do that. A lot of times people brainstorm ideas while sitting around in the employee lounge over a cup of coffee -- those places are just as effective for work today as anyplace else.

What kind of research do you conduct to determine things like the pattern and the flow of work, and the most-utilized areas of the office?

Obviously we interview people, which is a fairly common way to do it. But I think the best method is just observation, because if you ask people what they do during a day, they'll put down one thing, but then if you observe them, you'll actually see something a little bit different. People don't necessarily have a very good perception of what they really do every day. Sometimes we'll just spend days in someone's office and just basically meld into the woodwork and observe how they operate, how much time they really spend in their office, how much they really use their conference rooms, and how much time they're on the phone or in meetings.

Do you find that your clients are now trying to keep their branded look and feel consistent all the way through their products -- from their Web site to their offices?

Branding an image is very important. If you have a distinct image, you want everybody to feel it, not only when they pick up your product, but when they're working in your space or when they come to visit your space. You want them to feel it, breathe it, live it, be part of that brand. And one of the ways to do it is with the facility. Physical space can be a very powerful element in one's image.

Have you done any work with start-up companies that are just beginning to define their image?