Convene’s 131 South Dearborn Street location in Chicago has a lot going for it from an environmental psych perspective. Its design increases the likelihood that people in the space will feel good and work to their full potential.
The space is suffused with natural light, and working in natural lit environments has been tied not only to boosts in professional performance but also to improved moods.
There are a few green leafy plants in each sightline through the space, including some distinctive plant walls. Looking at green leafy plants has been linked to enhanced professional performance, particularly creative achievement, as well as to cognitive refreshment—and mental energy stocks are depleted when people spend an extended period of time doing focused work.
But lots of spaces feature natural light and plants.
What really sets the Dearborn Convene site apart is the relaxed feeling it projects—not so relaxing that it lulls visitors to uselessness, but comforting enough so users are not tense, even though they are working in an open area, potentially visible to anyone passing by. Research consistently shows that seeing others and being seen by them boosts our activation level, and that can degrade performance. The sight lines through the space minimize the number of other users that are possibly in view by dividing up larger spaces and via effective orientation of seats.
Colors featured are not very saturated but relatively bright, which also helps create a high performance mindset.
So does the effective mix of curved and straight lines—we link curved lines to comfort and straight ones to efficiency.
The frequent use of wood grain is a useful stress buster.
The high ceilings also increase the feelings of spaciousness, and higher ceilings have been linked to more creative thinking.
As at any co-working/ABW site there are a variety of spaces types and postures available to users, and with choices and control comes enhanced performance and more positive experiences generally.
Also, the Dearborn site is Gold LEED, and humans seem to relish working in places they know feature green design; professional performance is generally better in green buildings than elsewhere.
On the day that the Dearborn site was visited, the soundscape was, unfortunately, loud enough to potentially pose a challenge for some during electronic conversations.
Convene’s offices on Dearborn are a place-that-works because design elements in use create a positive atmosphere that supports professional performance, even on days when the sun’s not out.