S/O What Does a Workspace Built for Women Look Like?

[downtoearth]

Atlantic Article from April of this year about a women architect who is designing a co-working space for women in Brooklyn and also planning one for DC and in CA... interesting.

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What Does a Workspace Built for Women Look Like?

There are more women than ever working in office buildings, but only a quarter of architects are female. Enter Alda Ly.

... “Nobody had done a women-only co-working and event space before,” Alda Ly, the architect who directed the project, recalled. “It was a lot of sitting around the table and brainstorming, ‘What does that look like?’”

True gender equality requires a good deal of new construction. Materials were selected to optimize female comfort, furniture would be suitably proportioned; there would be spaces to socialize and others in which to retreat. A separate “Beauty” room was to be walled off from the toilets, for relaxed primping. The Wing’s first location opened in Manhattan’s Flatiron district, in 2016, and since then the clubs have been kept between 73 and 74 degrees, appreciably higher than New York’s mandated temperature of at least 68, and flouting typical guy-bod preference.

...

On a morning in March, Ly arrived at The Wing’s Brooklyn outpost, which had been in business for a week but awaited final touches. Stopping at The Perch, the club’s coffee bar, she put down her purse, took out a large notepad, and turned to a blank page. She was there to complete the punch list—an inspection of the remaining details specified in the contract. Dozens of women had already made themselves comfortable in pink lounge chairs; they worked, drank lattes, slipped into “telephone booths” hidden behind shelves stocked with books by female authors. (The vintage dial phones inside were merely decorative.) Ly’s style is chic and sleek, and at The Wing, with its particular brand of for-profit feminism (access to a single location costs $2,350 a year), the ladylike touches can seem rather literal—the pink, the florals, wallpaper of naked women embracing. There are tucked-away rooms, arches everywhere, curved staircases.

“We’ll see how long this trend lasts,” Ly said, of the conspicuous roundness. “But for me, it’s not the pink, it’s not the curves.” It’s about offering a variety of spaces in which women feel comfortable. This is different from the man-cavey environments of certain start-ups, she added.

www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/04/an-architect-for-the-feminist-moment/557516/

[stephm0188]

I was lost at 74 degrees and all the pink.

Something about it all feels... ick? I can't put my finger on it.

[downtoearth]

May 9, 2018 16:19:19 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

I was lost at 74 degrees and all the pink.

Something about it all feels... ick? I can't put my finger on it.

Yeah, it's still just an open-concept office space, but will more small spots near walls, and for co-working or someone who needs to rent space. I wonder if the pink and frills are more a reaction to how stark and gray/mahogany/glass other NY offices are?  I don't love that.

Either way, I think the only things that I would want are the private booths for private discussions that are tucked away and the warmer AC.  I feel like my coworkers keep the heat low all winter and the AC cranked all summer. I'm always cold at work, but my office is all men and then me - has been for 12+ years.

[formerlyak]

All that pink floral shit would make me want to vomit.

[georgeglass]

There is such a HUGE chasm between wanting to not be ogled/have privacy to pull a tampon out of your purse and "beauty rooms" for relaxed primping. This is ridiculous.

[twilightmv]

I’m all for warmer offices. I dream of a day where no woman needs a desk blanket/desk sweater!

[pixy0stix]

My ideal temperature is 72, so this obviously isn't for me.

I kid, but I don't understand why this is a thing, either.

[shortstax]

Feminine or not, that office is UGLY.

When I opened this post I thought we'd be solutioning, so here's my wishlist:

-drawers at personal desks (to keep tylenol, extra pens, post-its, and the zillion things I carry in my already-heavy laptop bag "just in case" I need them.)
-I would LOVE tiny lockers (less than a square foot) in the bathroom area. It would be awesome to be able to keep pads/tampons, a safety pin, some hairspray, extra hair tie, floss, whatever.)
-also in the bathroom...I don't want silence. Give me some music so more people feel comfortable going.
-adequate outlets in all rooms for plugging in a laptop. Now they're scarce and in non-ideal places causes one to bend/lean where it could become less than modest depending on my outfit.
-walking desks. We have one in a building of 200+ and despite only 20% being women, it's always the ladies filling up that schedule.
-I want some "seclusion" rooms where you could book to eat your lunch in silence. Now we only have conference rooms, but those are booked for actual work.

[litebright]

Loved how the talk about having a variety of spaces, awareness of things like floor materials & the sound of heels, warmer temperatures, a pumping place, etc. I liked the look of the seating area with the benches/tables.

But good God, I do not want endless pink or naked-lady wallpaper, or fake telephones in "booths". It's sort of hard to figure out what was that particular client's take on what it meant for a space to be "women only," versus what actually came from the architect/design side.

I don't need design to be aggressively/stereotypically "female," I just want functionality for women to be treated as equally important as functionality for men. I also thought the point was well made that women don't tend to favor the toys-and-food/man-cave environment that start-ups and tech companies often favor.

[mrs.jacinthe]

If I were designing an office for myself, I'd like:
*floors with soft-sounding surfaces that I can't trip over/catch my shoes on. Perhaps a cork-type floor? Or true linoleum?
*shorter-depth chairs with more cushioning and/or footrests (both would be ideal for this short human)
*more individual bathrooms with just a single toilet/sink versus a million cubicles and two sinks. I have had more awkward interactions in bathrooms than I would ever care to have again. And disperse them around the building versus making me walk 3/4 mile with a leaking tampon to get to the closest ladies' room.
*LED lighting with the ability to choose your own color warmth for your area/workspace
*if cubes are chosen, use a cube-wall system that allows for easy decoration/accessorizing/stuff mounting
*less "modern" design, more solid furniture. I trip over/run into glass stuff way too often for my own good.

[ECB]

Women aside, what I hate about these open spaces is that I”m an introvert. OMG - give me a space where I can have SOME time to myself. Being around people constantly would so drain me. I’ve had my own office for 11 years. I worked in a low walled cube office for about . At the time, it was actually fun. But now that I’m older, leave me alone!!!

[Deleted]

INDIVIDUAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL. Yes, women generally prefer warmer temperatures to men, but we also have varying hormonal issues that may contribute to some women preferring it cooler - especially pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause.

[thejen626]

May 9, 2018 19:10:08 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

INDIVIDUAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL. Yes, women generally prefer warmer temperatures to men, but we also have varying hormonal issues that may contribute to some women preferring it cooler - especially pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause.

And Infertility treatments. I had the worst hot flashes on clomid. I wore a sleeveless shirt at my desk in the winter and felt like I was on fire.

[georgeglass]

May 9, 2018 19:35:27 GMT -5 thejen626 said:

May 9, 2018 19:10:08 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

INDIVIDUAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL. Yes, women generally prefer warmer temperatures to men, but we also have varying hormonal issues that may contribute to some women preferring it cooler - especially pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause.

And Infertility treatments. I had the worst hot flashes on clomid. I wore a sleeveless shirt at my desk in the winter and felt like I was on fire.

I tried to climb in the frozen food section at Target.

[VillainV]

The pink and floral would kill me, but I dig the proportioned furniture and access to different kinds of spaces when different levels of privacy or seclusion are desired.

I would also want to add comfortable places to shower and change clothes, like a locker room, but would need to be more spacious, with more room for individual dressing, blow drying, etc.

[lilibet]

May 9, 2018 19:10:08 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

INDIVIDUAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL. Yes, women generally prefer warmer temperatures to men, but we also have varying hormonal issues that may contribute to some women preferring it cooler - especially pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause.

Yes! And have a little fan come standard along with computers and phones. If I'm trying to deal with a migraine at work I need the cool air blowing on my face, but other than that sometimes air is just stuffy or someone has stinky food or farts or whatever and you just need some air movement.

[lilibet]

There's definitely an option between look up people's skirts glass stairs and make everything look like Elle Woods lives here. This is too far in the girly direction.

I'd love to see better desk chairs that can be adjusted for differing (women) bodies, footstools would be great, I love the comment about easily decorated cube walls.

Also I'd love to have a little shelf in the bathroom stalls where you could sit your pad/tampon/cup while in the stall so you don't have to reach into your pocket or bra or wherever you've shoved your item.

[mskitkat]

I’m tall and run hot, so that all sounds like it would be awful for me. All I really want is a bathroom that has stalls with the doors that actually close so you can’t see through the sides or the bottom. I don’t like people recognizing my shoes and asking me questions.

[aurora]

I am short, and sooooo uncomfortable with the new conference room chairs at my office. They are way too tall and not adjustable. My feet dangle as though I am a child. They are the worst workplace chairs I have ever endured.

I would love having adjustable or proportionally-sized furniture.

The pink, however, is not my style.

[AAM2012]

I didn’t read the article but you lost me at a beauty room...

[isabel]

Proportional furniture would be excellent. I look like a 5 year old with my dangling legs in our main conference room.

I also would love to have at least one individual bathroom. We only have ones with stalls and a main sink which is... problematic when I need to change my overflowing menstrual cup and rinse it. I've resorted to bringing a solo cup of water into the stall with me along with some paper towels because there's really no other way to make that work. It sucks. A lot.

I also run the space heater in my office basically 24/7, even during the summer. But the HVAC in our office building is terrible, so sometimes the men complain about it too.

Overall though, this was tough to relate to. I'm not a frilly, girly girl. Most of what they did just seemed pointless and over the top. As a woman, I'm not looking for anything crazy. Just give me a few things that will generally make my life easier. I don't need a bright pink office with naked lady wallpaper to feel comfortable in my environment.

[litebright]

May 9, 2018 19:10:08 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

INDIVIDUAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL. Yes, women generally prefer warmer temperatures to men, but we also have varying hormonal issues that may contribute to some women preferring it cooler - especially pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause.

I did laugh at the part where they got all squiffy that women were ZOMG TRYING TO CHANGE THE TEMPERATURE and the solution was to lock them out of being able to. 

I mean, talk about people basically telling you what they need/want in design. 

[al320]

I would hate working in a place that warm. My office is typical office cold abd i wear sleeveless in the winter. And small shit wouldnt work for tall me (normal conference tables are too low for me to cross my legs under). And NOPE to the pink and florals.

This seems poorly thought out.

[wambam]

It sounds like a man’s idea of what a “typical working woman” would want and not something functional for actual, individual women working in an office. Pink and floral? Really? That’s what you think women want?

[bowies]

It looks like a hipster nursery.

[wawa]

My female boss chose our office space. It has private offices with real walls, individual climate control, and plenty of storage.

And snacks.


Only downer is that the bathroom isn't great, and we don't have a private one in our suite.

[WOT?*]

May 9, 2018 22:05:01 GMT -5 isabel said:

Proportional furniture would be excellent. I look like a 5 year old with my dangling legs in our main conference room.

I also would love to have at least one individual bathroom. We only have ones with stalls and a main sink which is... problematic when I need to change my overflowing menstrual cup and rinse it. I've resorted to bringing a solo cup of water into the stall with me along with some paper towels because there's really no other way to make that work. It sucks. A lot.

I also run the space heater in my office basically 24/7, even during the summer. But the HVAC in our office building is terrible, so sometimes the men complain about it too.

Overall though, this was tough to relate to. I'm not a frilly, girly girl. Most of what they did just seemed pointless and over the top. As a woman, I'm not looking for anything crazy. Just give me a few things that will generally make my life easier. I don't need a bright pink office with naked lady wallpaper to feel comfortable in my environment.

This is something that I think every woman who was actually *asked* would have on their wish list. Even if not individual bathrooms for space reasons, why not individual spaces in a larger bathroom, with toilet and sink in each private room? Nordstrom's does this in multiple of their bathrooms (drywall spaces, floor to ceiling doors and walls, toilet and sink in the space) as do many places for their "handicapped" stalls. I could deal with that even, if we can't have private rooms all to ourselves.

[isabel]

May 10, 2018 6:10:08 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

May 9, 2018 22:05:01 GMT -5 isabel said:

Proportional furniture would be excellent. I look like a 5 year old with my dangling legs in our main conference room.

I also would love to have at least one individual bathroom. We only have ones with stalls and a main sink which is... problematic when I need to change my overflowing menstrual cup and rinse it. I've resorted to bringing a solo cup of water into the stall with me along with some paper towels because there's really no other way to make that work. It sucks. A lot.

I also run the space heater in my office basically 24/7, even during the summer. But the HVAC in our office building is terrible, so sometimes the men complain about it too.

Overall though, this was tough to relate to. I'm not a frilly, girly girl. Most of what they did just seemed pointless and over the top. As a woman, I'm not looking for anything crazy. Just give me a few things that will generally make my life easier. I don't need a bright pink office with naked lady wallpaper to feel comfortable in my environment.

This is something that I think every woman who was actually *asked* would have on their wish list. Even if not individual bathrooms for space reasons, why not individual spaces in a larger bathroom, with toilet and sink in each private room? Nordstrom's does this in multiple of their bathrooms (drywall spaces, floor to ceiling doors and walls, toilet and sink in the space) as do many places for their "handicapped" stalls. I could deal with that even, if we can't have private rooms all to ourselves.

Yes, this would be totally fine. I just need something that has both a toilet and a sink.

I feel like corporate offices should also be required to have dedicated pumping spaces. I had an option with a real locking door and no windows, but sometimes used the tiny conference room across from my desk for convenience and to be able to keep working (other room didn’t have a table). It has walls of glass and blinds. I put a “do not enter” sign on the door. I got told one day by our EA that our CEO was peeking through the blinds to see what was going on. She shamed him, and it’s totally the kind of thing where he would have been way more embarrassed than me, but it’s just the principle. Like, what did he think was going on in there that he just had to see? Women shouldn’t have to go to a locker room or hole up in a fishbowl conference room to pump!

[penguingrrl]

This is ridiculous. A beauty space to primo and tropical temperatures aren’t what women are looking for when discussing the inherent masculine bias in workspaces. Properly proportioned furniture would be nice (I’m 5’0” and my legs often dangle uncomfortably). Furniture that allows for storage of stuff since women’s pockets don’t. The ability to work without being ogled.

GTFO out with florals and makeup rooms.

Also, it’s still the bullshit open concept thing simply rebranded in pink.

[ECB]

May 10, 2018 5:35:07 GMT -5 wambam said:

It sounds like a man’s idea of what a “typical working woman” would want and not something functional for actual, individual women working in an office. Pink and floral? Really? That’s what you think women want?

Ding ding ding.  If she went with softer colors, o.k.  But the PINK!!!  Come on now.  Could you get more stereotypical??