Office design has changed over the years, but perhaps one of the most infamous design trends has been the open office layout. Pitched to foster collaboration and optimize space while bringing a new modern edge to the workplace environment, corporate offices across the globe were eager to adopt this design to their office. Since its emergence, the open office concept was synonymous with start-up headquarters, Silicon Valley tech offices, new corporate offices looking to adopt a trendy new work environment for their teams, and more. However, after years of championing open office design, the team at Clive Wilkinson Architects explains why "the open office is dead."
Amber Wernick, an associate at the firm, explained to Fast Company in mid-April that the number of possibilities for appropriate office designs in 2021 increased because of the pandemic. "Once they [the public] were forced to work from home and be away from the office, I think it opened a lot of peoples' minds to what the office could be."
In April 2016, Archinect connected with the firm's founder Clive Wilkinson to chat in an episode of Archinect Sessions. During this conversation, Wilkinson was eager to share his thoughts on the evolution of office design and how his firm approached "far-reaching workspaces" for large companies like Google, The BBC, and Microsoft. However, much has changed since 2016. A booming design trend that had its fair share of "possibilities" may have lost its luster.
"We strongly believe that the one-size-fits-all office cannot exist in the future of work, with even stronger reasons now than there were pre-pandemic," Caroline Morris of Clive Wilkinson Architects shared with Fast Company. "A homogenous solution doesn't address the variety, the wide range of needs each employee has. You end up with an incredibly flawed workplace strategy and an incredibly flawed workplace."
To remedy these soon becoming "flawed workplaces," the firm has developed the "12 building blocks of the new workplace." Launched in April 2021, the firm realized that after 30-years of designing innovative workplaces, it was time to reassess "where work has been and where work is going." Each office building block aims to satisfy specific needs people working in an office require in order for them to feel safe, productive, and connected to their fellow colleagues. This new "kit of parts" is a resource the firm uses with their clients to help offices adjust to returning to the office post-COVID.
In March, Archinect reached out to the community to learn about firms and their return to office plans. After conducting a brief survey, we learned that "33 percent had already returned to in-person work, 26 percent have plans to return, and close to 19 percent do not have plans to return to in-person office work. "During our investigation, other firms like Woods Bagot and HGA also shared their new plans for office designs and how the pandemic has already reshaped what's possible.
While the possibilities of office designs will continue to develop as firms re-evaluate ideal office conditions post-COVID, Clive Wilkinson Architects explains, "In reflecting upon this paradigm shift, our team has thoughtfully considered where work has been and where it is going. This is an opportunity to transform and redefine the workplace – what parts we have outgrown and should be discarded and what new opportunities we can embrace."
8 Comments
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Is it time to stop using "pivot" every time we mean change course, move on, transform, segue, transition, adjust, innovate, shift, switch, break, revise, update, alter, etcetera?
Also, open-office should be hyphenated in that headline.
Sorry to be so cranky. All that said, this topic is critical at this moment. "What now?" in office design is the question to ask after a year of remote work combined with new concerns about disease transmission.
interestingly enough, as one who hates the open office with a passion, i think it can work now better than ever when combined with work from home. if offices are made more adaptive, and don't ever reach 100% capacity (i.e. team based days), then a more spread out, open offices can work and provide more flexible arrangments for people without a dedicated place.
There's been movement toward not assigning everyone in the company a desk and having workstations available to be used by whoever sits down at them in offices for a while now. It's been difficult to achieve in offices where everyone needs a space to work and everyone is in the office every day. However, I can see this taking off *if* companies embrace the idea that not everyone has to be in the office all the time, *and* employees are ok not "owning" or being attached to their desk.
This of course needs to be coupled with a variety of spaces so workers can find one that works for them on that particular day. That's where these types of spaces the article addresses come in. You need a quiet booth where you can focus? There's one over there. You need a medium-sized conference room your team can take for a couple weeks to collaborate for a deadline? There's one over there. You like the energy of seeing your coworkers coming and going? You can work over here.
The adaptation idea is interesting, but not one I see a lot of designers working on. I think the inertia of needing to change the environment just to get started on your workday would be difficult to overcome.
"Ah, there's a vacant desk! I'll grab it. Ok, great. Now let me pull out the cord to my laptop... oh there's not enough receptacles? That's ok, I'll work off of battery for now. Gotta adjust my seat. I need some task lighting but somebody took the desk lamp. I'll have to grab that later. Ah, crap, somebody left documents on this desk. They look important. I should probably get them to their owner after lunch. Where's my pen to make a note? Ok great. Let's connect to the server....." I know of an architecture office that attempted this and it's been an absolute nightmare. The reality is that everybody picks and desk and leaves their crap there. The setup would take 30 minutes just to get settled, and then of course you've got to take another 15 minutes at the end of the day to clean up for whomever's there tomorrow, etc etc etc
bowling_ball, I tend to agree. I think there might be a limited type of workplace where this could really work and it's probably one where most people only need a laptop and maybe a notebook to do their job. When you add in any need for physical things aside from a notebook and pen, you end up with people just claiming a desk.
I tried "hot desking" at one of my previous jobs for a bit and it was terrible. I need too many physical objects to do my job. I've been able to cut back a little bit working from home, but I still have a shelf full of technical manuals and industry guides that are easier to refer to physically than electronically.
My current office is talking about some version of this as we go back to the office, but I'm not holding out hope that it will be different that what you've indicated.
12 buildings blocks? Cmon man. Stop making busy work problems to solve.
I thought all y'all marxists loved the open plan? Everyone is equal, long hours, panopticon social enforcement, etc. I kind of enjoyed the architecture studio format being forced upon other professions even though it didn't really belong there.
Instead of 12 building blocks, how about looking at the university system--each department has different building types depending on their specialty. The library is a good model for some work, while isolated desks are good for others. There's no once size fits all.
Isn't that the point of the article, there is no one size fits all. They've come up with 12 different office typologies. For any one company office it might need a few of them, or all of them in different ways. Plus, it's literally what they are saying ...
"'We strongly believe that the one-size-fits-all office cannot exist in the future of work, with even stronger reasons now than there were pre-pandemic,' Caroline Morris of Clive Wilkinson Architects shared with Fast Company," (emphasis mine)
Am I missing something?
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