Space Planning

See also: Frequently Asked Questions about Furniture and Space

Stanford's space guidelines (pdf) will inform our planning, just as they inform every project at Stanford. The guidelines will help us work with staff members to better understand programs and needs for furniture, meeting space and storage.

Our guidelines are a framework for planning, and each group's space has unique needs and requirements.  As we work with our architectural partners at Porter Drive, we will be eager to hear your thoughts, needs and insights about your space.

• See a map with building names

Offices and Cubicles

To help people on campus decide how to allocate staff cubicle/office/teaming spaces, Capital Planning has developed the following guidelines.  These guidelines relate to the space guidelines mentioned above.

Allocating an office or a cubicle or a teaming environment should be made on the basis of the type of work that an individual performs.  In most of the business world, cubicle and teaming environments are the norm and offices are the exception.  In the academic world, offices are more common, although Stanford has a range of staff work spaces.

The following factors can be a part of determining workspace assignments:

• Job position, rank, and classification
• Time appointment (full-time versus part-time, seasonal versus year-round, job share versus more traditional job arrangements)
• Supervisory and/or managerial role
• Nature/frequency of interaction with internal or external client groups
• Nature/frequency of confidential communication in person or on the telephone
• Nature/frequency of working with other members of a team pursuing similar tasks
• Nature/frequency of processing confidential data
• Nature/frequency of handling equipment/material that requires secure space
• Volume of noise associated with departmental activity or individual job role
• Degree of isolation required for completion of routine job duties

Meeting and Conference Spaces

Meeting and Conference Space guidelines are also a companion to the Space Planning guidelines.  Again, while different groups have different needs, these are some of the ideas we use to plan meeting and conference spaces.

• We assume that these spaces are centrally scheduled and open to all employees in the area.  The configuration and exact number of rooms depends upon the type of work being engaged in.
• In predominantly private office environments (many offices, few cubicles), we assume:
  • 1 conference/meeting space for every 20 people (these would vary in size)
    There might be one larger space per floor (holding 20-30 people)
• In predominantly open office environments (mostly cubicles, few offices), we assume:
  • 1 conference/meeting space for every 10-12 people (various sizes)
    Additional tiny spaces (phone room size) might be needed
    There might be one larger space per floor (again, for 20-30 people)

Touchdown Space

Stanford will be providing “touchdown” spaces on campus as an “office away from office” for staff members who return to the core campus to meet and confer with colleagues in other offices. These will be comfortable, welcoming places to plug in your computer, use a phone, print materials for meetings or leave your coats or notebooks.

See Space @ Porter for more information on space planning.

Touchdown Space Open House

Our first touchdown site – Building 60 on the Main Quad– we will be hosting an open house for this site in November 2007 – Stay tuned for more details.