The Faculty Office: Evolution, Not Elimination
The private faculty office: a symbol of tenure, authority, and academic stature. Yet as higher education institutions contend with shrinking enrollment alongside rising operating and real estate costs, this long-standing space is coming under renewed scrutiny.
Many private faculty offices sit empty for much of the day, but efforts to rethink them often encounter resistance. That tension underscores a central reality: faculty offices matter. They are deeply embedded in academic culture and widely valued by the people who use them. At the same time, preserving them exactly as they are is increasingly difficult to justify financially—pushing institutions to confront not whether faculty offices should change, but how.
Rethinking faculty offices, then, is not simply a design challenge; it is also a change challenge. A more sustainable model depends on partnership—engaging faculty early, testing ideas before scaling them, and allowing evolution rather than disruption. The sections below outline practical ways institutions can take this measured approach, updating how faculty offices function while preserving what they signify and why faculty value them.
Right-Sizing with Respect
Co-creation matters. While university leaders need to set clear goals around cost, space, and operations, faculty need a real voice in co-designing how offices evolve. For example, at Cornell Tech’s School of Architecture, Art and Planning, NBBJ brought faculty and leadership together to prioritize space within a fixed footprint—ultimately arriving at smaller, more efficient offices as part of a broader conversation about balance and value.
Other ideas for co-creation include working with faculty to pilot shared work environments and collaborative studios, or blending private, bookable rooms with open collaboration zones—allowing privacy and status to coexist with greater efficiency and cross-disciplinary connection. Faculty involvement in early testing reduces resistance, resulting in spaces aligned with institutional goals.
Different Spaces for Different Needs
Not all faculty work—or think about offices—in the same way. The needs of tenured professors differ from early-career faculty, teaching faculty, professor emeriti, or research-intensive clinicians. A one-size-fits-all solution risks alienating everyone. Instead, institutions can develop a spectrum of spaces that meet functional and psychological needs:
Faculty Concierge Hubs
Hospitality-driven spaces with tech and administrative support that free faculty to focus on teaching and research.
Private On-Demand Rooms
Bookable, soundproof spaces offer privacy and focus for advising students, conducting virtual meetings, or recording lectures—without the inefficiency of permanent ownership.
Faculty Suites
High-finish, semi-private environments for senior faculty, integrated into shared areas to foster visibility and interaction.
Faculty-Student Studios
Shared spaces that promote mentorship and collaboration across academic tiers.
Interdisciplinary Commons
Neutral, flexible zones where faculty from different disciplines can co-locate and share research.
These typologies are most effective when piloted with groups tied more closely to the private sector—business schools, innovation programs or new graduate units—before scaling more broadly. At Harvard Law School, for example, shared work areas are positioned at the center of each floor, with private offices on the perimeter to encourage interaction between adjunct faculty and graduate students.
Pilot programs also draw inspiration from outside academia. At an NBBJ-designed Southern California life sciences company's offices, executives share coworking environments, proving that even in high-status contexts, leadership can coexist with openness and collaboration.
In some cases, positioning these new faculty workspaces as a selective benefit—available only to top-ranked schools or high-performing departments—helps reframe the conversation. When innovative spaces become associated with prestige rather than loss, faculty begin to see participation as a mark of distinction. Over time, that shift can drive organic demand, even among tradition-bound departments.
Align Space with the Work It Serves
Reimagined offices also reflect major advances in workplace design. Furniture systems and modular elements are more efficient, allowing institutions to achieve greater flexibility and privacy within a smaller footprint. For example, Bunker Hill Community College in Massachusetts features flexible, demountable systems, allowing offices to evolve with changing needs. For faculty who need confidential spaces for student advising or sensitive discussions, acoustically controlled rooms and adaptable partitions maintain discretion without compromising space efficiency. These strategies recognize that academic work is multifaceted—and that offices must adapt to accommodate focus, mentorship, collaboration and reflection within a smaller, smarter footprint.
The Academic Medical Center Imperative
For academic medical centers (AMC's), the stakes are even higher. Limited campus footprints, the need to link clinical, research, and teaching missions, and rapid shifts in care delivery demand even more agile office models. Solutions like interdisciplinary clusters that co-locate clinicians and researchers to foster translation from bench to bedside; flexible neighborhoods that allow phased growth, like shelled space in hospitals; and mentorship hubs that combine faculty offices with teaching studios to strengthen student engagement help align office design with AMC missions, supporting both discovery and care.
Evolving Tradition, Not Erasing It
Ultimately, reimagining the faculty office is not about stripping away autonomy or status—it’s about evolving a long-held academic tradition toward greater flexibility and increased utilization of prime real estate. The new faculty workplace represents both a physical and cultural shift: a statement about what institutions value and how they support their people. By aligning design with change management, universities can move toward smarter, more inclusive and more future-ready environments. Done thoughtfully, this evolution improves how faculty work today while preserving the essence of what academic life has always represented: intellectual community, mentorship and purpose.
