With COVID rates plummeting down, the conversation is about going back to work. Is it time to move out of the home office? Can you split time in the office and working from home? Or can you stay home in your pajamas and slippers forever?
I had a chance to photograph the new administrative office for Myriad Genetics, located in a complex of Myriad Genetics buildings near Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City. Okland Construction and Hub Studios (Timaree Later and Tim Thorpe) just completed the tenant improvement phase. This vibrant office space would certainly pull the vote toward going back to
the workplace.
The main floor of the new building serves as a hub for employees in the complex. In the back of the photo to the right, you see the snack area. In the foreground is a conversation area set in front of a wooden wall with displays of the history of the firm
The extensive fitness area has space on the main floor. The climbing wall is seen in the right foreground and to the rear are fitness machines. The illuminated artwork to the left depicts different modelling approaches to genetic sequencing
The circular seating arrangement seen through the glass wall is the waiting area for the executive offices on the top floor.
The workspaces are comfortably spaced with views head high. The choice of views is to the foothills and the Wasatch or to the city center with The Great Salt Lake.
High-backed quiet seating allows for a private conversation or for just taking a moment to regroup.
The upstairs social space is a casual environment that will be enhanced by a connection to nature once the wooden planters are spilling over with green foliage. Note how the light fixtures set a different emotional tone and lower the scale of the area.
I am truly struck by the employee friendliness of this space and several others I have photographed of late. My impression while taking the photographs is that the design says, “In this culture employees are valued and important to the success of the business and that the business wants employees to feel well, happy and at ease.” This is a contrast to other (and some of my earlier) workplaces that scream, “You are lucky to have a job, so get on with it or you won’t have it, and if you want it vacuumed, do it yourself.”
And where would I choose to work? But alas, I’ve worked from a home office for decades now, and that won’t be changing. But I wouldn’t mind a snack bar and workout room in my upstairs workspace.
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