The future of workspace design is exciting and full of possibilities. For people who traditionally go to work in offices, the paradigm of where you do your work has well and truly shifted.
While many support the notion of de-centralising the office to the extent of not needing one at all, there are counter arguments, from ergonomic and space limitations at home to the effects on group based creativity and the intangible but real danger of losing a company's entire culture.
There's no one model for the future of office design. The future is deconstructed. Supported by a cloud resource, the model can break into these four areas:
HOME OFFICE, for those who choose to work at home.
SUBURBAN CO WORKING SHOPS, close to workers' homes, where they can rent space to work.
BRAND CENTRES, to support the social and cultural aspects of the business, distributed like a retail network. A drop-in workspace for travelling teams, or a workplace where both team members and customers can visit and learn.
CONNECTION POINTS, for deliveries, services, and casual catch-ups, eg, a convenience store or cafe.
Office workers will spend time in all four of these areas as the functions of the corporate headquarters still get carried out, just at different places and times.
Each one is equally important: The cloud support to make it all work, the home offices for convenience and efficiency, the suburban co working shops for community, the connection points for logistics. The existing office buildings will become Brand Centres, where team members come for group activities like planning, feedback and social based activities, and will be redesigned accordingly. No more dingy meeting rooms. No more dismal tea rooms. No more cubicle farms.
The implications for both workspace design and town planning are huge. Watch this space.