Architecture + Information (A+I), the firm that designed the New York City headquarters of elite fitness brands Peloton and Equinox, has appointed its first ever CEO in 25 years of operation, Business Insider can exclusively reveal.
Kate Thatcher, who was most recently a principal architect, will now be leading the company. The move is a result of preparation for an influx of projects as businesses overhaul their offices for the coronavirus (and post-coronavirus) era.
Remote work and flexible schedules have led to a reimagining of the role of corporate workplaces worldwide. As a result, Thatcher told Business Insider, offices will look different. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated a transformation in the workplace that was already underway, she added, turning the office from a place with desks where work is done into the center of a company's brand and culture.
This shift could mean big business for A+I, Thatcher said, a strategic architecture firm that tries to design evocative and effective spaces that reflect "a client company's ambitions for its own future." The new normal will also effectively abolish formulaic, staid office design.
"Our finding is that the era of 'just build it and someone will come' doesn't really exist anymore," said Thatcher, referring to designing generic office space that later gets leased by a company for use. "It's been a really interesting time to be a strategic agency in an era when people are really forced to take stock, but potentially rethink, redesign, and reimagine."
Companies will increasingly want their office spaces to reflect their brand and ethos. For example. A+I intentionally designed Equinox's 117,000-square-foot space at 31 Hudson Yards with natural materials, clean lines, and an abundance of plants that reflect its blend of luxury and wellness, while Peloton's offices and main studios in Midtown Manhattan project a sleek, futuristic vision of a workout studio, appropriate for a company that was originally pitched as the "Apple of fitness."
For companies coming back to their offices, short-term solutions like plastic shields and extra space between desks are only meant to last until widespread vaccine adoption stops virus transmission. But other changes, Thatcher said, are more long-lasting.
"When plastic shields come down and people feel safe in elevators again, what will remain from this acute point?" Thatcher said. The office needs that result will be different for every business as it reevaluates its post-2020 goals. For some companies, this will mean a more agile and remote-friendly office. Other businesses may decide to operate their offices almost the same way they did before March of this year.
A+I tailors its designs to whichever company is their client. Its data collection process combines quantitative understanding of the spatial needs of a certain company — like calculating the number of square feet per person are needed, and how many conference rooms might be required — with a more qualitative approach.
"With qualitative data, we have to get under the skin of the organization and understand the motivations for the company," Thatcher said.
While a company may hire A+I for one specific architectural project, it likely has an underlying reason for taking on an office renovation or relocation at that specific time, whether it's a new business line, changing leadership, or reconfiguring its organizational chart. Thatcher said A+I needs to understand those own underlying need to deliver a product that actually fits its clients' goals.
And while remote work will undoubtedly remain a large part of corporate America even after the coronavirus is controlled, Thatcher thinks reports of the death of brick-and-mortar offices are greatly exaggerated. Instead, the office will simply look different.
Take one media company Thatcher worked with during the pandemic, which prioritized a designated desk for every employee in the office. Meanwhile, another media company client that focused on video found it could operate almost as well remotely, and therefore downsized its real-estate footprint accordingly and adjusted the floorplan for fewer on-site employees at once.
A fashion firm she worked with mixed both strategies. Because the design and creative teams work better in person, they needed dedicated space, while some employees will either come back a few days a week with a shared-desk system and others will be remote in perpetuity.
"There's not a one-size-fits-all solution," Thatcher said. "Even though companies are trying to answer the same questions of what a business does, what its goals are, and how it operates."
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