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Jeffrey: We started work on (a steel high-rise at New York City鈥檚 66 Hudson Boulevard) before COVID. And as it turns out, a building with access to the outdoors, and a beautiful entry environment, is ideal for creating a workspace that people want to return to. It turned out to be the model post-COVID office building, even though it wasn鈥檛 planned to be. But now that we鈥檙e in a post-COVID environment, we can see what people request in real time. And my personal view is, we鈥檙e going to have people working from home for a long time, but not totally. Partially. Creating a more user-friendly office environment is critical to getting people back.

Carol: Office buildings were already being reimagined, and the pandemic may have accelerated it. So the trend before COVID was that there were more collaboration spaces, more breakout spaces. Then COVID hit and we didn鈥檛 work on any design of office buildings during COVID. And I think now those same trends will continue and will be even more important because employees are wanting to collaborate. The face-to-face collaboration is wonderful. There鈥檚 nothing better than walking over to a colleague and asking, 鈥楬ey, can we have your opinion?鈥� So, I love the collaboration aspect and think the trend of having more breakout spaces will be accelerated even further.

Jason: I think everyone鈥檚 in a bit of an experimentation stage right now. Many companies are embracing some form of hybrid work. That鈥檚 had an impact on the way they look at their office footprints. In some cases, they鈥檙e saying, we鈥檙e not going to need as much square footage in our overall portfolio of office space. So, let鈥檚 look at the right ways to trim back and keep the meaningful space. With one company we were working with recently, it was about teams gathered in the office, and many times after finishing a project they wanted to celebrate these milestones. And so they鈥檙e taking spaces in their building and looking at how you could use the office space or convert it into that kind of celebration space.

Carol: Being able to enjoy the views. More open spaces. And one of the reasons I come into the office is not just for collaboration but it鈥檚 also for socialization. I like my fellow workers. I want to see them. I want to hang out with them. And our office in Chicago鈥檚 financial district is right across the street from the Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower). They just finished a renovation that started before COVID, and part of that is a roof terrace on the fourth floor that鈥檚 open to the public. And I look forward to going there, catching some sunrises, eating lunch with my coworkers, and hanging out there. It鈥檚 things like that where you can鈥檛 enjoy those amenities working from home.

Jason: Pre-pandemic, a lot of companies were starting to explore what it meant to create an activity-based work environment. And oftentimes associated with that philosophy comes what we call agile seating, meaning folks don鈥檛 have assigned seats. And I think, post-pandemic, that鈥檚 almost become more of a given because if you鈥檙e embracing hybrid work, and you assign people to desks, people end up being spread really far apart and it feels like no one鈥檚 in the office. And you show up and you鈥檙e like, gosh, no one鈥檚 here, and then you just want to go home again.

Jeffrey: Companies are making satellite offices, but not in a small city if your commute is only 15 minutes. But in New York, it鈥檚 a big deal because the traffic has gotten horrendous. The financial firms that I know are doing it. I live in New Jersey, and my daughter lives in New Jersey, she works for a financial firm. They opened a satellite office in New Jersey. That is a big deal. If they say they still want you in the office, visit the satellite office twice a week. And that鈥檚 where you dramatically save on commute time. It depends on the type of work and what the business does. But it鈥檚 part of this new trend. Now where it goes鈥攁nd how far it will go鈥攚ill be interesting.

Jeffrey: If you鈥檙e trying to make space more appealing, then you鈥檙e going to be removing pieces of floors, adding interconnecting stairs, making it a more inviting space. But in an alteration of an existing office building, it鈥檚 like dental work. Every old building is different. The structure鈥檚 different and the modifications are different.

Carol: The trend has been breakout spaces, and I think now that same trend will continue and will be more important because employees are coming in to collaborate. And probably beyond that, there鈥檒l be upgrades such as more clean air circulation, air filtration systems, HVAC renovations. We work in a class C office building, which is very old. But even in our building, changes have been made to make everyone feel safe, such as more keyless entry, automated soap dispensers you activate by waving your hand. I think those little things are beneficial if you want employees to return to the office.

Jason: There鈥檚 a case study that I share with my clients sometimes about a remarkable difference in the number of people who want to come into the office and work together just by swapping out the technology with something a lot easier to use. Technology that鈥檚 more plug and play, more intuitive.

Jeffrey: If you have exterior terraces above an interior space, that means it has to be insulated properly in winter and summer. This has become a big deal. On a job I鈥檓 doing now, they want to use thermal breaks to separate heat and cold transmission from the exterior to the interior through the structure. All of these issues can be solved better, more efficiently, and more cost-effectively with a certain level of prefabricated steel. The beauty of steel is that you have the surface of the building to work on where you have laydown areas. There are a lot of ways to manipulate steel.

Carol: Where you see the benefits of high-strength steel is columns for more open spaces. You don鈥檛 need these massive columns coming through your space. Reducing the column sizes is hugely beneficial. And for trusses that support open spans, you can reduce the member sizes. High-strength steel definitely has a role in the future for high-rise offices. I鈥檓 sure it will be used more as offices become more vertical.

Jason: What鈥檚 wonderful about steel is that it can not only do bigger spans more easily, but it has some future flexibility built in. If you need to tap through the web of an I-beam, a wide flange beam, because you got a new duct, albeit a small duct, or you鈥檝e got some technology you want to wire through, you could do that. If you even want to rearrange some columns, you can add some plates to strengthen the beam and shift things around if you need to.