Author:
Ken Stockdell, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
FM Issue:
July/August 2018
In recent years, we have spent a lot of time thinking and talking about the impact of the next generation of event attendees on our industry. Much of that conversation has been about how that generation is impacting the programming and organization of meetings, conventions, and other events. What hasn’t been discussed as much in our meetings is how the industry will adapt the facilities we already have. How will they change? What will drive the design of future renovations and expansions?
The public spaces in our facilities are the place where we have been seeing the most dramatic change. Rather than thinking of the concourse as a corridor to move from one room to another between sessions, these spaces are increasingly used for purposes beyond circulation. And that means we must think about them differently.
Over the last couple of years, I have attended the PCMA Convening Leaders conference. PCMA uses this event to experiment with new approaches to content delivery and the use of spaces. At each of the events I have attended, public concourse and prefunction spaces have been used in a variety of interesting ways. Those include things that have been done for many years like food and beverage service, registration, and association information booth or stations. There has, however, been a growing trend toward content delivery and dedicated space for networking and temporary work space being placed in these areas.
Delivering educational and informational content in open, public spaces presents some challenges. The background noise of people moving around the facility, which will remain a primary function in these areas, creates an acoustic problem. Because people need to be able to hear the content being presented, some local amplification is essential. The level of ambient noise control should also be a factor in material and finish choices, with ceilings and floors demanding the most attention. Carpet, the most common flooring in these spaces, will continue to be preferred, and the design of the ceiling and its finishes will need to factor in absorption, especially in areas where sessions might be held.
Because concourses in most convention centers are daylit and bright, visibility of the presented material requires bright screens and glare control. Power and data connections for the audiovisual equipment needed—laptop computers, tablets, and projectors or flat screen displays—are a must-have. Technologies that increase the opacity of the glass based on where the sun is can help manage glare and brightness, especially in a new facility. Less expensive solutions like window treatments can be installed in existing facilities to improve visibility.
Designers and operators must also consider how to locate open space sessions without significantly obstructing circulation. Areas that we would have worked hard to reduce in previous designs, such as alcoves and wider spaces, are now valuable to event planners. In existing facilities, that can mean new life for, and revenue from, spaces that previously would have been viewed as unusable. For new and expanded facilities, it means that we will see a higher percentage of public concourse and prefunction spaces as a component of facility area.
The coffee shop is now a fixture in our culture. They have become the social gathering places in our communities. In the best ones, there are a variety of seating choices, both in type and arrangement, with readily available Wi-Fi connections and power outlets. Walk into any of these places and you will see people sitting with headphones on working by themselves, groups of many sizes in conversation or in a group study session or project. The couches or club chairs are occupied with people reading a book with their favorite beverage or meeting casually for conversation. This is the kind of functional setting that we need to provide for networking and temporary work areas in our public spaces.
This is the range of interaction opportunities that convention attendees want in our facilities. One approach is to make our public spaces match hotel lobbies, with groupings of larger-scale furniture. Another option, that has been tested by PCMA and others, is a partnership with workplace furniture manufacturers to create these spaces. PCMA’s partner in this is Steelcase, but all the major manufacturers have a similar range of products that could be used. In many ways, the current trends in workplace design mesh well with creating the variety of environments and arrangements that attendees want.
Vancouver Convention Centre was one of the first to try this out. The arrangement of their public spaces created a variety of alcove or eddy spaces, and they have been populated with just about every seating option one could imagine. This experiment has been repeated at all the recent Convening Leaders meetings and demonstrates that there is a growing variety of choices in configuration.
For spaces intended for content delivery, there are chairs with tablet arms and casters that can be arranged to create a classroom-style environment but are easy to rearrange during a session to facilitate interaction among the participants. Another option is high tables with stools for seating. Four-seat banquette options, two-seat high tables, bench-style work tables with power connections, and large community tables can be used as well. For those that want a quieter place or some privacy to work or take a phone call, there are podstyle options available for one or two seats.
Designers no longer create concourse seating that is akin to airport hold rooms. Today’s attendees are looking for something different that is tailored to their needs. Thinking differently about tomorrow’s facilities and the events we host in them will lead to creating vibrant and attractive places to learn, to meet people, and to enrich relationships.
Ken Stockdell, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is vice president of HKS based in Atlanta, Georgia.
