The modern office

If you’ve been to Hamburg recently, you might already have noticed it. Stroll down the Elbe River, and the mother-ship of all offices sits gleaming there on the waterfront: Unilever’s newly completed HQ and one great, big step forward for cubicle-enslaved nine-to-five’ers everywhere. Suffice it to say, the Behnisch Architekten design just might be the future of the workplace.

Racking up more sustainability awards to make you green with envy, this 1,200-employee office is centred around a six-storey atrium which is open to the public. This in turn is surrounded by open-plan workspacing and airy break-out meeting rooms, connected together by wide, interweaving walkways that integrate once-segregated departments into one big community. There’s a spa on the ground floor. Welcome to the future of the workplace.

According to the British Council for Offices’ most recent Occupier Satisfaction Index, both commercial and corporate tenants in the UK steadily remain quite satisfied in their current leasing situations, meaning we shouldn’t expect the massive switch over to the elusive home-office-of-the-future just yet. For now, it seems that Unilever has hit this one right on the head with a reshaping and modernisation of the once-drab office complex.

Signs of the times suggest the office building isn’t going anywhere, and for that matter, neither is the office worker. In our modern-age knowledge economy in which the average life expectancy in the UK has risen a good 30 years since the state pension was established, the 20-somethings and the 70-somethings are going to be sharing the same table – literally.

You may be quick to think it’s been the older employees that are keeping the work place so stuffy, but save your breath on that argument. The youth generation has been quick to stagnate on the idea that efficiency is tied to the concept of one-man, one-computer. In contrast, the older workers still reject the addiction to technology and prove that knowledge production can be done beyond the boundaries of the modem.

And they’ve got a point. The BCOs research for “Welcoming Workplace” discovered that offices which allocate one desk to every member of staff frequently see employee utilisation lower than 50 percent. Coming out of the noughties, workplace design has finally arrived at a place that screams, “let’s move. Let’s collaborate.”

That is exactly why products are appearing on the market such as muraspec’s ideapaint (far right), a formula that turns wall space into a pristine white canvas for a potential brainstorming masterpiece. The breakout room is becoming more than a meeting space; it’s evolving into a creative, efficient knowledge powerhouse, designed for every department from finance to creative. Mark Bithrey, marketing and communications director of the British Institute of Interior Design, comments on the importance of contemporary interior design for “the added value to the end users that live and breathe the interior space.”

It is the most logical approach; space being invented for, and by, inventive people. And why shouldn’t it be? Employees in the UK spend a grand total of eight weeks a year in face-to-face meetings, in which the average meeting lasts five hours. By all means, make it an aesthetically pleasing place.

Outstanding examples of where this has happened include Precious McBane’s outfitting of the Virgin Radio Headquarters in Soho. Inspired by a fictional rock-star and his conceptual Soho home, the space was transformed into “luxury pop, made contemporary by irony and wit,” says Meriel Scott, co-founder of the interior design practice.

Having an interior that reflects the brand of the company was key for the project. “Often in offices or work environments, the connection between space and mood is neglected, and creating a thoughtful environment is seen as a frivolity. One of the most important elements in the work day is to have an environment that excites and stimulates”.

Scott admits with pleasure that the HQ is “quite the contrast to the usual office fit out,” but that perhaps is exactly the point. Conceptual design represents the company in an “abstract, three-dimensional way.”

Now more than ever, quality and efficiency are preferred over logging long hours, and belts still need to be tightened. In-house productivity is more critical than before, and workplace designers are fighting the crusade that the office aesthetic has an impact on employee output.

The collaborative effort between Bene and PearsonLloyd on the new PARCS line, shortlisted for the Brit Insurance Design Awards, speaks volumes on the new energy in the craftsmanship of furniture. Sophisticated and just a little bit futuristic, furniture with a touch of art house design is an express route to a more productive office meeting experience, in which knowledge labour rules and the collaborative team is king.

Perhaps it really is as simple as it sounds: chic design in the professional realm makes for happy and stress-free people. Fill your lobby with unique designs and bright colours, and a rise in staff morale is likely to follow shortly after. The data has been coming in for decades, and the majority of employers are finally beginning to catch on to the hidden connection between the office and their employees’ productivity levels – and mental well-being.

Even if keeping the employee happy is not at the top of the corporate priority list, client presentation is reason enough to get in line with the times and come to peace with your inner design aficionado.

When competing against the awe-inspiring power of Unilever or the admittedly obsession-worthy Fornari offices in Milan by Giorgio Borruso Design, the vibrant, bespoke designs of Anne Kyyro Quinn will provide individuality and functionality.

More avante garde art than wall covering, these fabric designs (above left) are exactly what the new workplace is about: sculptural, detailed, pieces that give personality and timeless, aesthetic mastery to the foyer of the workplace. They also happen to create a soundproofing barrier for boardroom conference meetings, seeing as they are made out of felt and other natural fabrics. Both functional and appealing, this is client satisfaction at its finest form.

For decades there has been chromophobia (the fear of colour) and neutrality in the workplace, which seems to weigh down on morale levels and employee output, not to mention drag down the company image. Meriel Scott describes this new age of contemporary design, brought into the corporate and commercial sector. “We are creating a narrative, in which every project is a visual story”.

Without favouring too much of a bias, evidence would seem to cheer on the world of contemporary interiors on this particular subject—dynamic and enlightened office design is going to begin rejuvenating a very tired and bored batch of office-goers. The days of the cubicle are nearing to a close, and we are all going to be the happier for it.