Creating An Open Academic Workplace to Foster Innovation and Collaboration with Trainees

Academic Offices/Educational Teaching Space: An obstetrics and gynecology department at an academic medical center in Boston, MA was faced with too little physical space to accommodate its staff and trainees, and also felt that the current space model of physicians and scientists with private academic offices was not ideal for faculty collaboration and innovation with trainees.
In 2011, the department collected data on private office usage that demonstrated low occupancy. During a four-week survey, no office was used more than 10.5 days of the 20 weekdays they were surveyed, 60% were used 5 or fewer days, and 30% were used one-half day. Armed with this data, the department eliminated private offices in favor of a more open model, taking inspiration from Google and Apple to create a space that supported innovation, collaboration and an environment conducive to safety in teaching and learning.