‘A breath of fresh air’: Outdoor workspaces are having a post-pandemic moment

By Jessica Davies

Outdoor workspaces have long been standard at creative and tech firms, from Microsoft’s tricked-out treehouses to Shutterstock’s birds-eye perch atop the Empire State Building. In the thick of the pandemic, fears about working in close quarters had plenty of companies emphasizing their fresh-air digs.

With the pandemic ebbing and the return to the office now underway, companies continue to promote the great outdoors — if a glam, WiFi-enabled one — as a must-have feature of the post-COVID workplace, one that’s got employees’ feelings around safety, comfort and creative inspiration top of mind.

At its massive new mixed-use development on Manhattan’s westside, the global real estate giant Related Companies has teamed with the coworking firm Industrious on a project called Yard Work at Hudson Yards, a 7-acre outdoor meeting and workspace providing custom accommodations for up to 28 people. Features include swing set-style seating and sound-buffered work pods that seat four apiece. The area is also equipped with high-speed internet, tech-charging stations, free access to The New York Times, food delivery and an onsite attendant.

And yes, reservations are required.

In its first week of operation in late June, Yard Work took some 100 bookings through mid-August, according to Related’s president Philippe Visser. “When we started planning for tenants returning as COVID receded, we went through a range of options we thought would get them excited to come back to cities and come back to the office,” Visser said. Those who use the space can “enjoy the weather and have business meetings outside, and maybe top off with a cocktail,” he added.

One of the most ambitious real-estate developments in New York in decades, Hudson Yards is the home base of companies like WarnerMedia, SAP and L’Oréal USA. Visser said Yard Work is an idea that could be transported to other mixed-use properties belonging to Related, including Rosemary Square in West Palm Beach and Kings Cross in London. The U.K. may well be seeing still more institutional outdoor spaces as the parent of the department store chain John Lewis and Waitrose supermarkets announced it would convert flagging retail locations into as many as 10,000 residential units over the next decade.

Clearly, the outdoor workspace is an idea whose time has come in a post-pandemic world.

“Public spaces inspire people every day, and inspire them to do their best work,” Visser said. “People have been locked up during COVID and are starved for human interaction. This is literally a breath of fresh air.”

The outdoor workspace is “definitely here to stay,” added Ebbie Wisecarver, WeWork’s global head of design. “Working outside can increase productivity and happiness, [while] providing access to outdoor spaces is an excellent way for employers to create a more flexible, welcoming environment for their employees when they return to the office,” she said. More than 200 WeWork locations around the world — including those in Paris, Austin and Monterrey, Mexico — feature outdoor accommodations.

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Source:: Digiday