Why return to a cramped cubicle with questionable ventilation when you can enjoy all the trappings of an office while breathing fresh air in a park?
That’s the idea behind a new project in Arlington, Virginia’s Gateway Park, just south of the Potomac River.
The Rosslyn Business Improvement District’s O2 project will provide free outdoor cubicle-style working spaces to accommodate 58 people, according to Commercial Observer. O2 — Outdoor Office — is aimed at “employees looking to come back to the neighborhood or residents needing a change from their home office.”
Arlington’s Rosslyn area is one of Washington, D.C.’s main office markets with more than 9.3 million square feet of office space, according to Newmark Knight Frank.
The project has two areas each with different seating arrangements. People can reserve a workstation through a remote reservation system. There will be free wifi and Rosslyn BID employees will sanitize workstations after each use, according to the Observer. O2 will open in mid-October.
While O2 isn’t a permanent solution for a coronavirus world, it’s the latest example of how companies, governments, landlords and now business groups are trying to create acceptable workarounds.
Office landlords and tenants are incorporating a number of measures to bring employees back while trying to create a safe work environment. [CO] — Dennis Lynch