Office of the Future: UC Davis Health Master Planning Research

Intro

The “Office of the Future” initiative aims to reimagine UC Davis Health’s administrative workplaces. As part of this initiative, my team helped develop a campus master plan that addresses each department’s needs, effectively uses office space, designs for current and future work styles, and plans for future investment in UCDH real estate.

We conducted extensive workplace research to understand individual departments’ spatial and organizational needs, culture, and current and evolving work styles. This information will inform campus real estate and planning decisions and the design and construction of future administrative offices.

Project Scope

Process + Milestones

This illustration outlines our research and design process and major deliverables produced for the master planning effort.

Working with 12 consultants, architects, and interior designers, I planned and conducted a spatial utilization study, supported all user research activities, and collaborated to synthesize our research findings into a master plan report and the corresponding website.

Buildings Affected on the Medical Campus

Buildings Affected Throughout Sacramento

Discovery

Planning & Implementation

This project was my first time planning and managing data collection on my own with limited oversight. We needed to gather accurate, organized, hourly data across 8 different buildings at once, and in order to do this I coordinated with many different stakeholders, including UCDH facilities teams, various building managers and department leaders, an external staffing agency, and my team at Gensler.

What is a Utilization Study?

These week-long observational studies provide data to understand how people interact with their office environment. Using a data collection tool called FacilityQuest, we gather objective data points through systematic hourly observations.

We input UCDH floor plans to FacilityQuest that observers use to collect the data.

How does it Actually Work?

Every hour, observers walk a route throughout their assigned office building, logging data on what is happening in the space.

An observer gathering data during a typical utilization study

Data Analysis

Why We Collect this Data

Understanding how UC Davis employees use their office spaces provides us with a basis for optimized spatial programming and conceptual design. We measured how much time people spend in various areas and what type of work they do (individual, collaborative, or calls) in that space.

A floor plan heat map analysis. Red represents spaces that were being used on average 70% of the time or more - blue spaces were occupied 0% of the time.

Insights and Recommendations

Using PowerBI, I aggregated and analyzed thousands of data points into visualizations to draw insights from the study, creating a dynamic understanding of space use for each department and building. Below is a snapshot of our key findings and few corresponding PowerBI charts.

Department Profiles

Combining Department Insights with Quantitative Findings

As I focused on the quantitative side, my team conducted extensive interviews and workshops with UCDH staff to gather input and knowledge on how each department is organized, how they work and collaborate, and their vision for how they hope to work in the future - considering cultural changes as well as future spatial needs.

I helped manage and synthesize information gathered about the 150+ departments, developing "Department Profiles." Each profile provides a detailed and holistic picture of UCDH teams, combining spatial utilization insights, current numbers, anticipated growth, niche work style preferences, and critical adjacencies needed to other teams. Through the development of each profile we were able to build a clearer understanding of each administrative unit, to then begin building migration scenarios and move phasing plans.

An early prototype example of a department profile

Creating Interactive Reports for the Client

In order to create a digestible way for our client to understand and utilize the data gathered, I translated the data from each individual department profile into a visual interactive report in PowerBI.

This not only provided a document that could be continually updated and used to track data about UCDH departments for years to come, but allowed both Gensler and UCDH Facilities teams to quickly reference necessary information as we made master planning decisions throughout the design process. Due to confidentiality purposes, I am unable to show visuals from this part of the project.

Final Deliverables

Office of the Future Website

To keep all of our deliverables in one place, I worked with another strategist to create a simple, user-friendly website in Webflow to organize all of the project work and make it presentable and accessible to UCDH teams. The website can be seen here.

Master Planning Report

These select pages from our final 60-page report show the project’s broader scope that my work helped to inform. My research synthesis directly supported the development of the new office prototypes, kit-of-parts, and migration strategies.

I also managed data, including department staff lists and contacts and current & future workstation/office needs for each department. This data collection helped inform final team locations and critical master planning decisions.