News
The value of post occupancy evaluation in creating successful bulidings is discussed by Nigel Oseland in CoreNet Global's Workplace Community Newsletter in October 2008. He gives an overview of how AMA's WorkWare toolkit can be used for post occupancy evaluation and shares some of AMA's satisfaction and utilisation findings.AMA Director Nigel Oseland wrote an article in the October 2008 issue of Premises and Facilities Management on The Evolving Workspace. In it he explored the social, technological, economic and political factors of future trends in work styles and environments.
Alexi Marmot was profiled in the July 2008 edition of Mix Interiors. In it she talked about the philosophies behind the work of AMA and outlined some recent projects.
In June AMA worked with the British Council for School Environments (BCSE) together with contractors and educational suppliers on the transformation of a primary school in Ealing as part of National School Environment week.
In June Nigel Oseland gave a presentation on designing offices to improve business performance at The Impact of Office Design on Business Performance event at Herman Miller. The event was held at their new National Design Centre in London and was attended by architects, designers, HR professionals and office managers. Nigel's presentation explored the consequences of designing workplaces for psychological and social requirements.
AMA have released the first issue of their newsletter, WorkWare Nexus, which is available for download from the website. Over the last eighteen years AMA has collected data from over 60,000 people and 250 buildings including public and corporate offices and learning environments. The newsletter has been launched to disseminate AMA’s latest findings on occupant behaviour, space use and building requirements.
In summer 2007 Alexi Marmot created the Living Learning Lab at UCL's Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, to demonstrate by example how small scale space interventions can aid the student learning experience. Herman Miller provided most of the furniture and have published it as a case study, downloadable left. The response from staff and students has been excellent.
Our next Buildings and Social Science (BASS) meeting is in November 2008. BASS is a network of social scientists working within consulting and architectural practices, involved in designing workplaces. BASS promotes the role of the social scientist in creating better workplaces and provides a forum to share our knowledge, theories, methods and case studies. Please contact us if you would like to participate.