Stanford University

PORTER DRIVE RENOVATIONS

Prototype study and change management process to create an off-campus community experience for relocated staff

Due to space constraints on Stanford’s main campus, the university needed to start migrating several of its administrative functions off-campus, an initiative that elicited trepidation among staff who had long enjoyed working in the heart of the campus. MKThink led the workplace study and eventual relocation process of key administrative departments—HR, Accounting, and Land, Building & Real Estate—from the main campus into an off-campus building designed to maintain the Stanford community experience. The work initiated a change management process to ease the employees’ transition off-campus. Through virtual and physical prototyping, the project team shifted the preference for a private office culture to a more open and collaborative one. Along with dedicated workstations, the new workspace features a shared conference center and cafeteria to promote multiple modes of interaction. Renovation costs were contained with a furniture-intensive solution and limited fixed architectural elements. The post-occupancy survey validated the hoped-for results, with the primary staff registering high levels of workplace satisfaction.