48 I ICT TODAY
BlueSky...
A Workplace
Renovation for
Future Growth
This new style of work prompted Georgia-Pacific (GP)
to take a look at the business process and operating pro-
cedures in GP Center, its headquarters in downtown
Atlanta, leading to a complete overhaul of the workspace.
GP and companies involved in the renovation called the
project BlueSky.
FACING THE CUBE FARM FACTS
The way people work has changed since the GP Center
was designed in the 1980s. GP Center was no longer
an efficient or desirable office space. The design of the
office space offered only individual offices or cubicles
and generally large collaboration spaces like conference
A CASE STUDY
By Murad Mohammed and
Andrew E. Schindler
The face of the modern workplace has
officially changed. Employees are no longer
part of cube farms with staid interiors that
can often stifle creativity in its tracks and
contribute to a legion of sleepy, bored
workers. Today, employees are looking for
flexible, open spaces—something that can
allow easy collaboration and not leave them
feeling tied down. They need to be able to
move around and change their scenery
in order to maintain a high level
of performance.
rooms. The design and furnishings were outdated,
which did not foster innovative thinking and did not
support attracting and retaining talent. GP Center was
unable to handle immediate and future business and
capability needs. Meeting spaces, for example, were
equipped with different forms of technology through-
out the building, requiring additional effort to
connect equipment.
GP needed room to grow efficiently—as it was
challenging to find space for new employees—but
it also needed to eliminate waste through more
innovative uses of resources, such as office space,
electricity and water.