Office Developments - Exceptional Buildings with Standard Layouts
Although office developments usually consist of a banal succession of repetitive working spaces, many administration buildings have achieved world renown, from the Chrysler Building by William Van Alen to the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank by Norman Foster. Office structures may be speculative schemes built by investors to be rented out, or client-occupied developments. In the former case, the user(s) may not be known at the design stage, so that it will be necessary to incorporate some flexibility to allow for different sized units and subsequent changes of tenants; and when a yield is expected on investments, the construction costs will inevitably be restricted. Where buildings are to be occupied by the client, the design can be tailored to the specific needs of users and corporate identity.
