HOK's Kay Sargent Champions Neuroinclusive Design
Key takeaways:
- Neuroinclusive design requires empowering workplace occupants with choice and flexibility.
- Spatial sequencing and zoning are vital design strategies.
- Accommodations are often inexpensive or cost-free.
Why we think this matters to design professionals: Neuroinclusive design creates workplaces that genuinely support all users, recognizing that neurodivergence is more widespread than commonly thought. With minimal investment, designers can deliver environments that significantly improve satisfaction and productivity.
For 70 years, global architecture, planning, and design firm HOK has been challenging its team—and clients—to think ahead, be aware of the evolving data about how people use spaces, and apply their findings in a creative yet purpose-driven way.
One of the firm’s agendas is helping companies to develop strategic workplace designs that efficiently utilize the space, while supporting and inspiring the people who work there. These days, that includes making the office a place where people want to go in order to connect and collaborate. Beyond convincing employees that being in a shared space is worth the commute versus working 100% remotely, they need to be met with options that suit different needs at different times and in varied conditions.
HOK principal and director of thought leadership, interiors, Kay Sargent is helping to bring more awareness to the less obvious barriers that might keep workers away from the office. In her new book, Designing Neuroinclusive Workplaces, Sargent seeks to inform designers as well as commercial stakeholders—owners, operators, and even human resource professionals—of the widespread benefits to planning and executing spaces that offer more choice and control over the environment.
Leading With Data
In the book’s Preface, Sargent discloses that HOK has been digging into neurodiversity since 2016, and found there was a lack of…well, diverse research on neurotypes and how to best support them in the built environment. While there exist targeted studies on autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other neurotypes, “our goal is to take a more holistic approach and address the environmental impact, needs, and strategies of various neurotypes that fall under the neurodiversity umbrella,” she writes.
HOK’s ongoing investigations indicate that the statistic that 20% of people identify as neurodivergent is likely underestimated—and that variable is influenced by the stigma that neurodivergent equals less capable. Without an open, adaptive organization that embraces and attempts to understand differences in thinking, employees may be less motivated to report what causes them discomfort or distraction in the workplace—and they may just avoid going there.
Sensitive Space Planning
Where do design professionals begin to identify workplace challenges? In an email conversation with i+s, Sargent said that while sound, temperature, and light are the top-level conditions to start with, there are levels of refinement to consider.
“[Since] the pandemic, some individuals have a heightened sensitivity to being in highly densified spaces,” she explained. “In many circles it’s assumed that if you are neurodivergent, then you’re hypersensitive; therefore, you would likely prefer to be in an enclosed space, because you cannot handle being in a noisy or visually stimulating open environment.”
But that may not always be the case, Sargent countered. In fact, “many people don’t like being in a confined space, where they are unable to move, feeling like they are in a fishbowl, and just feel disconnected from others,” she explained. This opens up opportunities to design more flexible spaces in terms of mixing enclosed offices, privacy pods or booths, dividers, and sound-dampening materials throughout the floorplan.
Still, regarding acoustics, Sargent noted, “not all sound is noise. Being in a space that is too quiet, where you can clearly hear any conversation that is happening in the space, isn’t a good solution, either.”
So what is the solution to balancing all the activity in a workplace? “A key for creating successful spaces that is often overlooked is spatial sequencing or spatial zoning,” she offered. “It’s about having the right level of environmental conditions to support the activity at hand and sequencing them so loud spaces aren’t next to quiet ones.”
Clearing Up Misconceptions
A widespread refrain we find across contemporary social discourse is the objection to making accommodations that address specific groups or individuals to afford what some might mistakenly consider privileges, exceptions, or special treatment.
Sargent again brings the holistic outlook front and center. “A common misconception is that environmental issues only impact neurodivergent individuals,” she said. “I don’t know a single person that isn’t impacted by light, sound, temperature, and other sensory elements in the spaces we occupy. However, what might be annoying to someone that is neurotypical can be debilitating for someone that is neurodivergent.”
Project costs are certainly always top of mind for clients and their design teams. How do designers address cash concerns? First off, said Sargent, is revealing the reality. She indicated that “56% of accommodations cost absolutely nothing to implement. And 37% only involve a one-time expense averaging about $300.”
In any case, she observed that there is a better response to “what is this going to cost us” queries.
“What we should be asking is, ‘What is the cost to your organization for not making those adjustments?’ Because if someone who is neurodivergent is telling you that something is bothering them, it is highly likely that it’s negatively impacting other people and they’re just suffering through, masking, or dealing with it,” Sargent told i+s. “That is taking a toll on their level of satisfaction and productivity and costing you money.”
Neuroinclusive Design Needs All Hands on Deck
The impetus for the book is to provide a comprehensive resource on human-centered, evidence-based design that accommodates people of all abilities. In an excerpt from the book, Sargent invokes the precedent set by the Americans With Disabilities Act that enabled the architectural and design community to develop best practices and standardized a framework for compliance regarding physical inclusion accommodations. She writes that “some topics transcend competitive advantage and become a moral imperative” for the industry to collaborate, communicate, and create a plan that can continue to evolve with time and information.
Ultimately, Sargent told i+s, “To create neuroinclusive spaces, we need to create options and empower individuals with choice.”
Learn more about the book, including where to buy, at inclusiveworkplace.design.
