In an Archinect feature article published last month, we unpacked the residual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on office design. As our recent business survey found, a decline in demand for new office space post-pandemic is one of several factors currently feeding a turbulent economic landscape for architects, alongside headline forces such as interest rates and inflation.
As our feature article noted, 20% of U.S. workers are believed to be currently working on either a remote or hybrid work schedule. Meanwhile, industry studies posit that 50% of large international firms expect to reduce their existing office space over the next three years, while U.S. office vacancy rates sit at 20% and approximately 2 billion square feet of U.S. office space is underutilized.
Amid the warning signs for architects specializing in the design and delivery of new office space, our feature noted that opportunities exist for designers to reimagine what a ‘workplace’ means post-pandemic, and to devise strategies that create compelling office environments for workers that overcome the inconvenience of commuting versus working from home.
In a recent New York Times article, writer Stacey Freed posits the approach of transforming office spaces into luxurious, hotel-like environments to entice workers back to the office. Termed "hotelification," this approach enhances offices with premium amenities like signature scents, upscale furnishings, and communal spaces that encourage interaction and collaboration.
Freed cites the Springline complex in Menlo Park, CA, as an example of what is dubbed a ‘work resort’ in the piece. The 6.4-acre complex includes two premium office buildings, nine restaurants, outdoor workspaces and terraces, gym facilities, a high-end golf simulator, an upscale Italian grocery store, and 183-unit residential buildings, enriched by community events such as craft cocktail fairs and silent discos.
“So many people go into the office and say, ‘Why am I here? I could do exactly the same thing at home,’” HKWN founding principal Matthias Hollwich told the NYT for the piece. “So you have to offer something that is better, but it’s not about making it entertaining like a club. People still want to go to work to be efficient.”
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Why people just thinks the solution to lure people back to office are making the offices more beautiful ? When the more important part is the interactions with co-workers that you want to work with , when management just wants you to come into office to micro manage , that just straight off sucks .
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