Learning Laboratories are a new approach to the practice and process of workplace making. The concept was developed from an independent set of pilot projects to address the changes seen in work culture, process and tools. An implicit understanding in the pilot projects was PBS’s acknowledgement that its ability to serve its customers is fundamentally linked to its ability to transform the workplace into a tool to support organizational performance.
Using the pilot projects as a collective group and obtaining a commitment from tenants to experiment iteratively over time provides a great opportunity to observe, measure, document, and publish the interaction between organizations, change, and the workplace. By using the workplace as a strategic tool to support business objectives, and allowing the business to learn about the interaction among people, processes, and place, the organization creates the potential to export and leverage its learning to the rest of their business.
The Learning Laboratories are applied research experiments based on scientific inquiry and rigorous, repeatable methodology for measuring the results. The projects marry academic research with new design processes and methodologies.
By using the hands on experience obtained through the Learning Laboratories pilot projects to highlight successes and failures, PBS is effectively building a platform of data and lessons learned that guide the direction of GSA’s workplace making in the years to come.
For more information, contact Mr. Kevin Kampschroer at (202) 501-4411 or via e-mail at kevin.kampschroer@gsa.gov
