Sumita Arora 
The Washington Post's nerve center. Image © Garrett Rowland.
Although the term newsroom is still embraced by the media industry, it’s slowly being replaced by the converged environment, and the shift is as much about space as it is about linguistics.
Image © Gensler
Tech companies are making a conscious effort to create more personal and meaningful ties to the communities they serve, are a part of, and recruit from. For many companies, the focus has shifted from their global ‘footprint’ to their local ‘fingerprint’ (the specific impacts that can be made within their own communities) proving that, when aligned in the right way, business and community aren’t mutually exclusive.
Image © Gensler
As companies seek to define their work culture, participatory art can be used to invite employees and visitors to create their own experiences. Forward-looking companies are finding ways to use space as a lever for expressing organizational culture and values, which can be key to developing a strong brand statement and recruiting top talent.
Take a lesson from the design of a productive newsroom environment. Image © Gensler
Go to Fox News, CNN or any other newsroom and you will see lots of activity. People across functions working together to make split-second decisions. The image of the lively, sometimes hectic newsroom may sound off-putting, but there’s actually a lot that can be learned from this project type. Apply these five design ideas to make your workplace a content-producing powerhouse.
Sonya Dufner 
Gensler New York created excitement for its office move by inviting employees to post to Instagram. Image © Gensler
Phrases like “proceed to checkout” and “share to Facebook” are colloquial in this internet-of-things world in which we live. With technology changing at breakneck-speed, there is an inherent expectation that everything is both instant and customizable. Everyone from retailers to news outlets to your local coffee shop are “creating experiences” tailored to the customer. So if your favorite retailer can address questions in real time via social media, then why can’t a company do the same for its employees when going through a major change like a move or policy update? The answer is: It can, and it should.
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