Coincidence, Hindsight, and Lucky Streak
I’ve been pretty lucky throughout my career in terms of working in nice office environments amongst nice people. This realisation came as I started hearing one horror story after another on the unhappy experiences in architectural and design practices - perhaps it’s a kind of vicious cycle in this industry. Don’t get me wrong, the nature of architects’ work was still stressful and demanding and will probably always be, but being in a positive and friendly environment really helped kept me sane and I’ve made many good friends and memories throughout the years.
‘‘ I think it is important to know the distinction between the nature of the work and the environment of the workspace, and that the later could compliment or even help elevate the former. ’’
That being said, there are a few instances that I experienced first hand the failure of the office space to function as a conducive or productive working environment.
It first was during my internship in an up and coming small / mid size firm in London during the mid-naughties - at the time when we still relied on fax machines and shared workstations rather than personal computers. My project architect would from time to time warned us in advance to refrain from speaking to him for a full day and kept our questions for later, as he was trying to get some urgent work done. In hindsight I guess that was him setting up an invisible privacy screen from the rest of the office.
Another time was during my first job after my part 2 studies. I was now back in KL and working in an established mid / larger firm. This was in the early 2010s and when everyone had their own desk phones with individual extensions, WhatsApp was still at its infancy and mobile phones were still a private mode of communication. One of my project architects would from time to time disappear and hide somewhere in the office - like book a pretend meeting to use the meeting room or in disguise at someone else’s desk - where we couldn’t find or call him, so that he could focus on work without interruption.
‘‘ It felt as if both my seniors had to avoid the rest of the office in order to be productive. Both these experience made me laugh and really stayed with me over the years. ’’
A few years after moving back to KL, the rush hour commute was really getting to me. I started to fantasise about not having to go to the office in order just to clock in at 9am while upon arrival you’d already be tired and miserable having just braved the infamous KL traffic. Sometimes just an impatient fellow road user driving dangerously can ruin your entire day. And just to think that in a few hours you’d be in the same horrific traffic again wouldn’t put you in a very mood for the rest of the day. Years of precious life wasted in work commute. I started wonder there must be a better way to this.
When we co-founded our own practice, that’s when we really could design our life around a better alternative to this rush hour before 9am and rush hour again after 6pm prescribed reality. The truth is not everybody is at their most productive at between 9am and 6pm. To put it simplistically, some people are early birds and others are night owls. Studies shown that night owls who had to work during the day could struggle to perform their best, and in extreme cases could even lead to severe mental stress over time and depression.
Fast forward into 2020s, the global pandemic really pushed us to think out of the box and proved to ourselves that getting work done does not necessarily equate the quintessential office context in the form of 9 to 6 at a workstation at a cubicle in a commercial building. This couldn’t be more true for us who work in the creative industry. Its now high time for employers particularly in this industry to bust the myth that the measurement for productivity is the length of time sitting on an office chair instead of the quality of deliverables and the growth of their employee.
Design discussion and sharing hand sketches over the ether - think iPad, Apple Pencil, virtual whiteboards - is no longer science fiction. Productivity hardwares, softwares and the internet could render the physical workspace redundant almost effortlessly. I emphasise on almost because I really believe that there is something fundamental that cannot be replaced - the moments in between productivity. Let’s face it, we don’t work 100% of the time at the office, we need these little moments in between to make our work more meaningful (and fun) that is the human interaction that makes the so-called office culture - for lack of a better word. It’s not only for laughs - although laughs are important - its the ‘water cooler moments’ when great ideas spark in between small talks and idle chit chats.
This has become ever more important to me now as I run my own practice. Back when I was a junior assistant I could rely on my seniors to do the thinking so to speak and even when I was involved in design I’d more or less follow their lead, it was easy to just keep on going. But now as the principal architect myself, I constantly find myself stuck during the design process and in need of a good chat, to have a sounding board or just to clear my head and ‘unstick’ my thoughts. Coming from an introvert, trust me that’s saying a lot.
It was by happy coincidence that when my friend and now Beyondto Collective Studio co-founder Guan Yi had his own start up and decided to share our studio space to save on rent, we instinctively made our tiny one space studio a fun and goofy place, where food and jokes were plenty to go around regardless of work stress. If you’re in the design and building industry, you’d know the physical and mental energy needed to manage this stress. And you’d appreciate that a little humour, while cannot really make our troubles go away, can however make them a lot more bearable while we sympathise and support each other to navigate this world that is increasingly going bonkers around us.
This is the origin story of Beyondto Co in a nutshell. We believe in a workspace that makes our work experience better, our people happier and healthier and in turn better productivity - no matter how stressful work gets. We decided to expand our own positive experience of sharing a workspace - of surrounding ourselves with likeminded and supportive people while we work and also when we need a break from work.
Having the benefit of hindsight (one of few advantages of growing older) and having done some research into this subject, we confirmed our suspicion that having a one size fits all solution to workspace is not a smart thing to do when it comes to productivity and wellbeing. Every individual has their own unique work personality and even the same person might gravitate towards a different work mode at different times depending on their mood or the type of work they’re doing at that time. We made Beyondto Co a place where you could decide to be as noisy or as quiet as you like, whenever you like it. No one will look at you funny if you decided to sit with your laptop at the pantry all day and binge on biscuits (we can’t pretend we haven’t had one of those days right?), or get some close eye on one of the comfy chairs while soaking up positive energy from the greenery at our infamous beer garden.
On a more serious note, we’ve unbound ourselves to the 9-6 norm, so you could work as early or as late as they like. We also stock a library of material samples for you to browse for ideas and you could even lay them all out at the workshop table for discussion or to present to your clients. Or, like one of my seniors back then, you just want to find a secluded space to hide and not speak to anyone as you bury yourself with work, be our guest!
Working at Beyondto Co feels like I’ve continued my lucky streak of working with nice people in nice places and I’ll do everything in my power to not jinx it (touch wood!). All we must do now is to keep the good vibe alive by making sure there’s always plenty of food and jokes to go around.
Not to mention, coffee. Or beer. Or whatever floats your boat!
