A community is a social unit that shares common values and ideas. When an organization brings its talent together, allows them flexibility and provides them shared spaces, a corporate community is formed—one that’s more productive and innovative, to boot.
A lot of large corporations are beginning to consolidate their most valuable asset—their people—not by downsizing or restructuring but by relocating buildings and locations that provide better access to transportation, connection to bike paths and cheaper parking. Often this means moving out of the downtown core to suburban areas that allow companies to bring a business team together in order to create better process and workflow in a place that is uniquely theirs.

Creating company culture
Part of the reason they make this kind of move is these companies recognize the value of providing comforts like daycare, fitness rooms and food services. What is interesting to see is how these shared spaces are becoming vital in strengthening their culture.

Design that reflects values
The interior design of the workspaces had to reflect this sense of community too. Everything from color, lighting (natural and artificial), seating arrangements, traffic flow and acoustic characteristics contributes to developing a space that promotes community within a company.
The workplace is changing, and the buildings we work in must change with it. Renovating needs to be a carefully thought out process. It’s not just about picking the current trendy color or trying to cram as many employees into a space as possible. To find true value in retrofitting a space, it must reflect the values of the company and employees. Only then will the renovation and the company reach their potential.