From location convenience to support easy commutes and schedule flexibility, to increased space for comfort and diversity in types of work areas, the suburban office is having a resurgence.
 

the new office will look like. Part of that conversation is being led by employees’ desire (or lack of it) to even go back into an office. While the current sentiment seems to be that employees overwhelmingly do not want to return to an office full-time, reasons to come into an office fall mostly around collaboration. For employers it’s about retaining culture. To address both of these, and account for new “close-to-home” preferences brought on by the pandemic, companies are looking to move their new hybrid workforce into suburban office spaces.

Though developers have long focused on heavily populated, major urban cores for commercial office spaces, there has been an uptick in suburban developments this past year. From location convenience to support easy commutes and schedule flexibility, to increased space for comfort and diversity in types of work areas, the suburban office is having a resurgence. For designers, this provides an opportunity to renvision the outdated office space for its new, constantly evolving, future.

New Interest in the Outdated Suburban Office
Traditionally, suburban offices have been known for their formulaic layouts of hard-walled offices around the perimeter, with uninspired workstations packed in the center. Their location was often viewed as unexpected (aka boring) for creative industries, and one that could not support all of the diverse wants and needs of the emerging Millennial workforce. There also used to be a sense of inconvenience when it came to lack of public transportation or lack of walkability for lunch or coffee spots typically found in an abundance in downtown areas.