Explore Cisco’s Smart Approach To Hybrid Culture

In a post-pandemic effort to consolidate—and apply more consistent design standards to—its global workplace footprint, Cisco hatched a quartet of guiding principles: Facilities should foster staff wellness, optimize sustainability (to meet net-zero ambitions), support mixed-presence scenarios, and be informed by metrics like space and energy utilization. In office locations including New York, that approach has been highly effective. “By starting with the employee experience, using real data on how work actually happens, and running every decision through our four design pillars, we created spaces that attract, engage, and inspire,” says Bob Cicero, leader of the company’s Future Proof Workplaces Practice.

The agile workspace, a collaboration with Gensler, boasts state-of-the-art smart systems, low-voltage power-over-ethernet infrastructure, and platforms to support all types of hybrid meetings. “The goal was to create an environment where collaboration feels seamless,” Gensler principal Tom Krizmanic says. To that end, “we designed the space around the optimum delivery of the technology: camera angles, sight lines, and microphone/speaker relationships.” More than 70 percent of the 59,000-square-foot space is devoted to video-enabled collab zones, from huddle rooms to corridor breakout areas. “That’s a high ratio, but it could become the norm in organizations with mobile, creative, and hybrid working policies,” Krizmanic adds. By pairing advanced tech with access to in-office and building-wide amenities, he continues, “Employees can choose the setting that works best for them, ensuring the workplace supports connection and flexibility.” And so it does.

Cisco + Gensler Design A Collaboration-First Workplace