REW TV: Transwestern’s Lindsay Ornstein on office ‘we spaces’

Lindsay Ornstein, who heads the New York office of commercial real estate firm Transwestern, sees increased adoption of “we spaces,” with more companies encouraging “accidental collisions” between employees.

“We’re seeing a big trend away from the traditional mix of open and interior offices and exterior offices and bullpens to a more open-plan layout,” Ornstein said. “But the impact of that has been that there’s a lot less ‘we spaces’ which are really important for building culture and building opportunities for people to have accidental collisions and grab a casual coffee and sit down and have opportunities to work together in a more informal setting. So we’re now seeing a bit of retrenching where tenants who are taking less square footage are taking a little bit more but the layout and design is completely different than what it used to looked like.”

She also provided some advice to tenants looking to maximize their space with amenities.

“Think of other uses that you can do with small spaces. Maybe there are opportunities for other kinds of amenities that aren’t so prevalent yet. We’re seeing blowdry bars, manicure places. There are all sorts of things you can do in small spaces,” she said.

Ornstein made the remarks during the Fifth Annual Real Estate Weekly Women’s Forum. She moderated a panel discussion entitled “Trends in Office Leasing.”

For the full interview, check out the video below: