As the workforce transitions – baby boomers start retiring, millennials are now the largest generation in the labour force, and Gen Zers are about to storm the workplace – we need to make sure that the modern office environment meets their needs. So what defines the office of the future? Which workplace design trends are likely to emerge soon? TableAir speaks with four leading design firms about the future of office design: Nathan Curtis, an interior designer from Fuse Studios, Eisuke Tachikawa, founder of design firm NOSIGNER, Damjan Geber, founder and creative director at Brigada*, and Gavin Daniels, principal and co-founder at Wingate Hughes.
If you could describe the office of the future in just three words what would they be?
Curtis: Flexible social spaces.
Tachikawa: Open, discrete, mobile.
Geber: Activity based workspace.
Daniels: Learning focused design.
Recent surveys claim that on a typical day, desks are in use only half of the time. Does that mean that we are slowly moving away from personal workstations in the office?
Curtis: Yes. The permanent desk represents a waste of increasingly expensive floor space and I question how productive most people are at their desks. Its a good prop to hide behind and appear busy. We should be moving away from it for the obvious cost savings and freeing up the floor plate for more useful working environments that encourage social interaction.
Tachikawa: Sure, it is. I have no desk for myself. Anywhere in front of a screen can be a potential workplace.
Geber: That is exactly why activity-based workspace is the key to a successful business, but in my opinion, not in a way a lot of consultancies are implementing it. People like the feeling of belonging, of having something of their own, a ‘private’ place. In an office, that is their workstation. Taking that completely away from them makes the office more flexible and saves space, but at the same time blocks an employee’s deeper connection to that specific place.
Daniels: To be honest, I don’t think so. Surveys are frequently interpreted to overgeneralise results, thus prescribing inaccurate trends.
Facility managers are becoming enthusiastic about devices with sensors and other embedded technology that can optimise the use of the workspace. What role will the IoT (Internet of Things) play in the workplace of the future?
Curtis: An increasingly bigger role. It should be easy to find things at your fingertips, whether it is internal or external information and resources.
Tachikawa: I doubt the story that is often mentioned – the story that every device will become a part of the IoT. What is included in the IoT field will need to be selected carefully; most people are satisfied by non-digital products.
Geber: This will depend on the kind of work the company is doing and whether productivity can be measured through the use of the workspace or not.
Daniels: Ask Major League Baseball (MLB). They have the best use of sensors and practical application in the world. These devices allow us to evaluate and respond to the need for change. The big question is, can we design spaces that will react to that?
We will be welcoming Generation Z to the workplace very soon. Do you feel that they need a whole different office environment?
Curtis: This generation is the one that has been connected via technology all of its life and is not in the slightest bit phased by technology. The answer is yes, they will need a new office environment. It should come from them and not be imposed on them by the likes of me…a generation X!
Tachikawa: Yes. It will be changed from the aesthetic and innovative point of view.
Geber: I think the office environment that is developing now is what they need. We’re already at the limit of overdoing it by creating amusement parks, bars and cafés instead of offices. That can look cool in magazines and feel great at first, but without a very delicate balance, it can become more important than the work itself.
Once you start the spiral of gimmicks as the focal point of the office design, there can never be enough of them. Every new office will have to be ‘crazier’ than the previous which will make some older offices seem dull much sooner than they should. I’m not sure which business model can support this level of constant refurbishment to keep up with the expectations of Generation Z , or any other generation for that matter.
Daniels: Churches, synagogues and mosques have remained remarkably the same for centuries. While our office isn’t a place of worship, the basic functions and interactions facilitated by the office environment remain. The office environment will change, but to assume everything changes for a new generation is short-sighted at best.
What advice would you give today’s business owners who want to prepare for the office of the future?
Curtis: Be flexible, work on the adaptations that have already been made to attract and keep Generation Y, who are the closest to Generation Z in terms of life experience. Be open, be honest, share expertise.
Tachikawa: I advise smart businesses to imagine an office like a café. It will need to have comfort and diversity.
Geber: Talk to your employees, listen to them and try to find out how they feel inside the office environment before you hire an outside consultancy to do it for you. The office of the future is a place where everybody contributes to the success of the company; there is so much that new generations can learn from the business owners and vice versa. The old hierarchy based office design system is not necessarily the best one or the most productive one for your company. There are currently a lot of successful models for organising and planning the office environment that merge technology with behavioural psychology and new ones are being developed every day. It would be a mistake to miss out on this opportunity.
Daniels: Define YOUR culture, define YOUR goals, and know YOUR company better than anyone else. With that firmly in hand, great design will readily enable your company to succeed.
This article originally appeared at TableAir.
