Shifting Role of Building Lobbies

Delivery Management: Accommodating increased delivery volume and frequency can create issues of package storage, package security, and delivery access. Typical multi-tenant mailboxes and building mailrooms were not designed to handle today’s package volumes. Unsecured packages create theft risks, and stacked packages may create hazards or impede access. Approaches to managing deliveries can be physical, programmatic, or a combination of both. Allocating adequate amounts of secured space for packages, whether using secure package lockers or additional building staff, will help resolve some of these issues going forward. Delivery access considerations should also be made, both for delivery vehicles and for delivery personnel. Especially in the case of Courier Network Services (CNS) deliveries, access should be both secure but flexible enough to allow for direct-to-tenant deliveries or the storage of perishable items.

Pick-Up and Drop-Off Integration: As less people travel via personal vehicles, the need for waiting places for transit, TNC, and AV passengers will increase. Ideal waiting spaces would be comfortable and sheltered from the elements, while still offering visibility for passengers to see when their transportation arrives. Lobbies could help fill the need for such spaces, by becoming quasi-public spaces rather than being used for tenants only. Doing so may create design challenges for the renovations and retrofits of existing lobbies.  

Security and Access Management: As lobbies become more public spaces with increased activity, questions of access and security may arise. With an increased potential for larger numbers of unfamiliar people in these spaces, the increase in activity might also lead to an increased ability for nefarious activities, such as package theft, to be masked or blend in. Managing security and access in these spaces can be achieved with automated systems, staffing, or a combination of strategies in order to provide security while still maintaining access for deliveries and those wishing to use lobby spaces.