Redesigning The Future of Work

Redesigning the future of work has been both exciting and frustrating, for both designers and businesses. One thing that remains dominant is the human component. As work becomes more flexible and less space dominant, companies will need to redefine ways for their teams to connect and collaborate in person.

What makes this significant to design is the brand-focused experiential component that connects the people to the place. How do we do that? We create well-aligned environments that make staff happier, better motivated, and more productive.

Creating Equilibrium

Alongside the need for quiet spaces, integrating a sense of community will remain important to the future workplace, especially as advancements in technology continue to encourage people to work remotely and become more isolated. As technology gets smarter, architects and designers are shifting focus to creating social spaces. Redesigning the future of work looks a lot like the coworking business model. Prioritizing spaces for staff to come together, working in proximity or solo, will continue to evolve. We could see these potential trends make an appearance in the not too distant future:

• The removal of reception desks and gated barriers
• Scan stations for employees to enter with passes or with facial recognition software
• Prioritizing spaces for staff to socialize and work across teams
• Giving employees a choice of work zones to instill a sense of control
• The ability to change their environment for personal comfort

Design Influencers

Designers have been watching, waiting, and listening to the needs of their commercial clients. Creatively poised for the opportunity to reassess, reimagine, reinvent, and move forward with the best option for your business. These sectors will continue to influence office design and instigate the most change and evolution:

HYBRID DESIGN: Accommodating both in-house and at-home work creates a flexible and evolving work ethic that can function well into the future of work. Ongoing trends will overlap, blend and continue to expand. But the overarching theme is variable landscapes of flexible work and meeting environments across all business platforms, including:

• Coworking inspired layouts with flexible privacy zones
• Cafe style workspaces replacing breakrooms
• Fewer cubicles and more open benching systems
• Separate pods for video calls
• Vibrant open cafe areas for client meetings
• Libraries that provide separation between spaces
• Micro-environments
• Biophilia inside, terrace workspaces outside

HOSPITALITY DESIGN was the catalyst behind the resimercial office furniture trend. We are continuing to see a blurring of the lines between home office and commercial office design. Borrowing from hospitality design, office design is striving to create innovation that can flex to the need at hand, including:

• Mobile furniture options that can transition to training, meeting, or workspace
• Moveable privacy walls
• Flexible wayfinding and signage with branded aesthetic
• Seamlessly adapted social distancing applications
• Integrated technology that can be accessed from anywhere

WELLNESS DESIGN: Borrowing from the ability to adapt, which has been a mainstay on the clinical side of wellness environments, designers will need to look at more innovative ways for larger public spaces to flex into different functions. Creative, adaptable furniture solutions will continue to be something that designers will strive for. Creating natural distancing through updated furniture design and placement, instead of the obvious necessity during the pandemic. Other components include:

• Communications + technology for efficiency
• Touchless entry and a general reduction in touchpoints throughout
• Hands-free self-cleaning toilets
• Antimicrobial surfaces and fabrics
• Seating pods, cafe seating, privacy pods for calls
• Smaller groupings of individual chairs
• Visible symbols for safty+wayfinding

We are continuing to watch these trends closely for how they affect the needs of your team and your clients. Redesigning the future of work is an on-going topic for our industry. Our goal is to not only be a resource for your product needs, but to solve your current needs with viable solutions to help you keep ahead of the changes ahead. If there are trends you’d like to learn more about on our blog, please let us know!

 

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LEASE OFFICE FURNITURE: Restarting after lockdown has presented new criteria for the return to work that includes hybrid workspace design to lure your team back. A redesign is a great opportunity to test drive fresh options and leasing can provide valuable savings!  Ask us about it, 512-448-3769 or experts@officefurniturenow.com