November 15, 2021

NBBJ publishes design recommendations for creativity and space

Artists exemplify ARC research findings in beautiful visuals

Artists at NBBJ have illustrated ARC Fellow Kristen Dong’s design recommendations for creative workplaces, and Dong couldn’t be happier with the results. “I think it looks AMAZING,” she recently wrote ARC.

The design recommendations document, Creativity and Space: Data-driven design recommendations for creative workplaces, uses lively drawings and graphics to present Dong’s year-long ARC research project in which she explored the relationship between the spatial elements in student home workspaces and work-from-home behaviors. Dong hopes her research will inform the design of future workspaces to boost creativity, productivity, and problem-solving abilities.

Roughly 380 college students in remote learning took Dong’s survey regarding 36 different social and spatial factors in their workspaces. The survey also asked about behavioral outcomes compared to pre-work-from-home times. Following this quantitative evaluation, Dong interviewed a smaller group of 11 participants for qualitative insights.

Dong conducted her ARC research project while learning from home in 2020-2021. Her project advisors were architecture professor Tyler Sprague and Ryan Mullenix, partner at NBBJ and co-lead of the firm’s corporate design practice. Dong completed her MS in Architecture degree (program in Design Computing) in Spring 2021, and is currently doing design research analysis for Meta (formerly Facebook).