Abstract

Managerial decisions about office design and the performance of work are frequently cost-based. This article replaces the commonly asked question of how to “measure” the effect of environmental design on productivity with a practical framework that values workspace environmental features in human terms. This integrative model of environmental comfort enables decision makers to organize and classify, in a coherent and sensible fashion, the wide array of information available about how workers are affected by the space in which they work. The model is illustrated by one company’s experience applying this approach to practical decisions during a major office design, construction, and move.