"Cubicle sweet cubicle" bested by "open sight" design

Random encounters at the office water cooler play a more vital role in productivity than commonly thought. This is especially true in boosting R&D innovation, according to a Ph.D. study in architecture on how workspace affects interaction patterns and, consequently, innovation process outcomes.

The National Science Foundation-supported study by Umut Toker, at North Carolina State University College of Design, considered design factors such as the placement of coffee pot and microwave, white boards, and group printers; and the general configuration of office space, labs, and common areas. The end purpose: how all these factors foster chance encounters and open sight lines that increase eye contact.

"Spaces with clear sight lines lead to more eye contact," Toker says, "which means questions pop up, and people start discussing things."

Shorter walking distances and highly visible common areas generated higher rates of random face-to-face conversations. And unscheduled conversations increased the frequency of technical collaboration, the study found.

Personal encounters were rated the most highly valued information exchange medium, significantly greater than e-mail and phone. Innovation was gauged on such objective factors as the number of research papers generated, and by subjective assessment of the quality of innovative research performed.

"There is no single formula for success," Toker cautions. Yet, if more consideration is given to how workspace design affects person-to-person information flow, organizations can design space to foster innovation.