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Elizabeth Lowrey
Principal and Director of Interior Architecture, Elkus Manfredi Architects
Age: 59
Industry experience: 30 years
Growing up in a family of artists and designers, Elizabeth Lowrey mapped out a career path at an early age. Before her seventh birthday, Lowrey had settled on architecture as her dream job and went on to study the field at Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction. With over 30 years at Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects, Lowrey leads the firm’s interior architecture practice as it works with developers and landlords on the changing nature of spaces where people gather.
Q: What redesigns of office space are you proposing to clients in the last couple of months, and how are they approaching a potential return to the office?
A: We’re talking to every single client we have, whether it’s a corporate user or a hotel or colleges and universities, so it’s fascinating conversation and everybody is asking the same question:: what’s going to be the new normal after we get out of this crisis phase? This is all about taking care of your guests or employees and making them feel safe. I want to believe and I do believe we’re going to find a vaccine. This is the great accelerator. The difference in the corporate space is going to be that real estate is going to be used to support innovation even more than it was before. We don’t have to go to work anymore, so people who are doing the timesheets and expense document reading will probably stay at home. The reason for the office is to innovate and collaborate. Therefore, the architecture of the office may change. You won’t have the rows of benches that companies had in the past. The workplace no longer is a mandate. It will become a magnet. The corporate environments will have to make employees’ jobs easier there than it is at home.
Q: What was the original impetus for your development of the Harbor Stone System workstation for open floor plan offices?
A: It’s a few years old. And the reason for how it came about was when we approach the design of office space, the four guiding principles are always starting with humanity, resiliency, flexibility and agility. We were looking around at all the common products that were on the market, and none of them really achieved that. So, we decided we would design our own. It’s giving everybody their own space, their cockpit, their workstation, so the user view is the way they want, not looking directly across at somebody. After we’ve been in the COVID nightmare, I’m excited about it and we were able to get a patent for it, so that was thrilling.
Q: Will amenity spaces survive at all, or will they be converted into private workspaces?
A: They are going to have to keep some room for those, because the reason to come to the office is about proximity. Proximity breeds innovation and collaboration. Those are the spaces that bring people together. I don’t like the word amenity spaces, because that infers they’re something extra. These spaces are really about creating community and building trust and sponsoring mentorship. They will probably look different than they did three months ago. We’re working on a project, the lobby of the future, which is the same conversation.
Q: What does your own workspace at Elkus Manfredi headquarters look like?
A: We’ve got terrific offices. We’ve got incredible windows that look onto the harbor and the cruise ship terminal and the airport. We can see the world around us, and all 300 people can see out the windows because the [Innovation and Design] building is rather narrow. I’m a big believer in form following function. What we do is collaborative predominantly, and our office is organized around collaboration tools: people can just turn around from their desk and talk with their teams. It’s very simple and straightforward and studio-like.
Q: Is Elkus Manfredi redesigning its own offices now?
A: The space and the architecture itself didn’t have to change. The only difference is the signage on the floors: you definitely know which way to go to be safe, and the sanitation stations have been set up. The whole technology shift was a no-brainer for us, because we had already put that into place [to work from home]. It was just the human side of it: missing our colleagues, because what we do is all based on collaboration.
Q: What was the process like designing ad agency Publicis’ new Boston offices at 40 Water St.?
A: For Publicis, that was just the most amazing job. Our role was all the way from employee engagement and change management and design: everything we worked with them at every level to achieve what they call “the power of one.” What that meant is they were bringing together many companies owned by Publicis under one roof, working with them to understand what they were afraid of, what they needed. We touched 2,000 employees who were all engaged in the process and had a voice.
Q: Is that an unusual level of employee input into office design?
A: It’s less and less unusual, but they really embraced it. The architecture was the accelerator. It was the change, going from assigned to unassigned seating, bringing eight companies together under one roof. It was change at every level and it was happening at the same time they were moving.
Q: What’s your next big office project in the Boston area?
A: The MassMutual one is in the ground and coming up [at the Fan Pier], so that’s an exciting one, and we’re going to do work for Charles River Assoc. around the country. I’m obsessed right now with thinking about these hubs of innovation and what the new workplace is going to look like. It’s less about housing people for eight hours a day, and more about workplaces as a tool for innovation. If you don’t innovate, you’re probably going to go out of business. It’s really about driving success both on an individual level and applying that to the community.
Lowrey’s Five Favorite Art Destinations:
- ChinatiFoundation in Marfa, Texas
- CasaWabiin Oaxaca, Mexico
- Art Basel in Miami
- PirelliHangarBicoccain Milan, Italy
- MASSMoCAin North Adams
