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FACE THE CRISIS WITH GOOD DESIGN
Next, The. Maria Cristobal, Director of Buenos Aires Planning, analyzes how to cope with the economic crisis by designing more ingenious solutions.
One of the ways that organizations find today to reduce their operating costs is based on the review of the company's interior design.. The cycles are repeated in the country with ups and downs in the results, whether they are service companies or product companies. Today, growing inflation leads companies to think about reducing costs to generate savings and the space planning process that, generally, It is part of the previous stage of any space reengineering project., is once again the star of the year.
The good design, normally, is synonymous with pleasure, satisfaction, beauty, but we also know that good is usually synonymous with expensive. The global and national financial crisis is leading companies to reduce staff and operating costs. But we Argentines have more tools to face it. First, For us our recycling capacity is enormous, as well as our patience and our faith: we always think and believe that the next government, is going to fix everything without perhaps seeing that it is the institutions that are seriously injured and that it was us who always got ahead time and again, even despite the rulers. But this training allows us to develop that creativity that makes our compatriots stand out abroad and that leads us to have ingenious solutions to get ahead..
Good design can be an important resource to defend against the crisis. The functionality of the space results in the well-being of people, which increases productivity. A good layout eliminates unproductive times, but it is difficult to quantify these intangibles and get finance people to value them, but there are other tangible and quantifiable goods that can be obtained from good design:
-The new concept of open spaces, that ten years ago few companies adopted, is becoming more and more frequent. A good layout, that takes the company to the open space criterion can achieve up to a 20 % less surface area, with the consequent rental savings, expenses, services, etc.
-Meeting rooms have also changed their concept. Communication is increasingly fluid, so there is more and more need to meet. Classifying them by the level of confidentiality necessary, we can design tables for teamwork, that centralized in the layout allow work meetings to be held simply by turning on the wheels of the chairs without having to meet in a closed room.
The design of open informal meeting spaces allows you to delve deeper into the design and reinforce the corporate image.
Closed rooms mean air conditioning, special lighting, partitions, etc. are rationalized and shared, with enormous space savings that will reduce the cost of new projects, u optimize the use of existing spaces, that maybe it can avoid a move.
Duplicating the function of certain areas allows saving m2
-Daily use in a company of ergonomic furniture and support tables made with recycled materials, divisions with elements such as tensioned or manufactured fabrics and themed with the company's final product, They are ways to customize the project, achieving savings and improving the work environment through design.
-The trend is the use of recycled materials, pointing at the green office, recycled wood, fabrics made with fibers 100% natural that provide warmth and a touch of “revival”.
-The use of materials that are part of the company's final product as part of the design is practical, novel and economical.. For example: a textile company can use its own fabrics, gigantographs can be made based on the products, saving on wall maintenance, Divisions can be made with bottles or cans in companies that market in that way. Give it a second life, a second use of the products themselves can be taken advantage of by interior design.
-Think about the layout in order to reduce electricity consumption as much as possible, like islands of ten or twelve positions with independent electrical circuits of individual command so that only the sectors of the people who are working remain on.. Lowering the lighting plane by using hanging fixtures that are usually cheaper than built-in fixtures is already a trend within interior design.. Lighting design is an important part of the project.
-The use of lower priced but not low quality materials that provide innovation to the project, It is the fruit of the evolution of the Argentine economy after the 2002, where the vast majority of imported elements were manufactured in the country, like rugs, dividing panels, chairs, latest generation furniture, that today compete in the national and international market.
-The design of new storage systems in order to reduce them, typifying them and even using them as marketing elements leads us back to the concept of duplicating functions.
“These items and concepts that seem simple and obvious, They are not so much in companies that grow in a disorderly manner and under the gaze and good will of the workers involved.. If we add to these structural aspects the review of day-to-day processes and issues such as whether we should review internal email, the cost of transporting personnel, of the value of unproductive time due to poorly thought out layouts, cleaning costs, security, etc., “We would come to the conclusion that the reengineering of spaces is an investment.”, adds Engineer Cristóbal.
It is difficult to evaluate but we must not leave aside the improvement in productivity and the work environment., which implies an improvement of space, the creation of recreation spaces, the best management of colors and textures, What they do to people's quality of life, What is the best path for sustainability?.
In summary, creativity, ingenuity and quality of design at the service of function, They are elements that we can use to face the crisis and that used well will be an invaluable help.. There is always time to spend.