Before designing a creative space, let’s take a look at the current engineering management office
The office has mainly 2 functions
Individual work and group workIndividual work includes daily course work and job searchWhile group work includes meetings for projects, study group, or casual hang outs
Let’s take a look at the individual work
Course work consists of readings and computer-based work using software such as excel, word, and powerpoint
As for job search, EM students spend a lot of time applying for jobs and preparing for interviewsSo what are some of the problems with the current space?
The office is often too loud
The lighting may not be sufficient for reading
There is no privacy
Due to loudness, darkness, and lack of privacy, students might find it hard to focus
Along with that, of course comes with distractions
Now let’s take a look at group work
For projects, EM students often need to sit together to brainstorm.Or present progress to each other
Before exams, the students often form study groups to discuss practice exams
And most importantly, everyone in EM are friends. Naturally part of the so called group work is to hang out
Now why isn’t the current space conducive to EM group work?There are no flip charts to easily record and display ideas
As for seating arrangement, team members sometimes sit really far apart
And again, there is no privacy for discussion
In the current conference room, the projector doesn’t even work!
And the worst of all… there is only one conference room
when someone mentions a creative and productive space, some words that come to mind are:Comfort, mobility, flexibility, collaboration, versatile, innovation, utility, privacy, focus, synergy, etc.
However, the current EM space fails to promote that.
Therefore, team alpha has taken on the responsibility to design a better work space
