The incredible shrinking office

More new buildings allow for packed workspaces, but will tenants start pushing the density limits?

10 Hudson Yards
10 Hudson Yards

From the August issue: In Hudson Yards, developers are testing the demand for large, super-dense office space. Two of Related Companies’ buildings in the Far West Side neighborhood have multiple floors that can provide each office worker less than 100 square feet of space, according to an analysis of floor sizes and allowable occupancy per floor, as designated by the city’s Department of Buildings. That is a level of density that brokers say few corporate cultures can tolerate.

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The typical amount of space allocated in practice to each office worker has dwindled from approximately 300 to 400 square feet a decade ago to 125 to 250 square feet today, depending on the industry, according to insiders. But many believe the space allotted to individual workers has hit its nadir and that the long-term trend may even be reversing. [more]