Ask Manhattan-based interior architect Maria Lopez what’s wrong with office design, and she looks like she just bit down on a fluorescent light fixture.
“It’s not conducive to humanity!” she exclaims, her voice rising in exasperated bewilderment. “The hepatitis-yellow lights, the cubes — it’s like you’re in a bloody hospital ward, going to see someone who’s dying.”
Strong words, perhaps, but not ones likely to draw protest from many a cubicle dweller. When it comes to vibrancy and warmth, the average modern office rivals a DMV waiting room in Soviet-era Volgograd.
There is, however, a better way. That’s being demonstrated by a small but growing number of companies that are trashing the acoustic tile ceilings, worn carpeting and gray-brown cubicle dividers and taking the office into the 21st century, creating workspaces that are vibrant, innovative and visually captivating.
“A lot of organizations are starting to think about these things,” says Adam Mundy, global director of design for the interior architecture firm M. Moser Associates, which exclusively works on corporate offices. “People are so much more aware of their spaces now, of the lighting and the materials and what being comfortable in your space can do for the work flow.”
The result, he says, is offices that are “lighter and fresher,” “more open and interactive and colorful.”
Asia and Europe lead the pack when it comes to progressive office design. And even among American cities, New York is no trailblazer.
“New York is rather conservative,” says Andrew Laing, managing director for North America for the global workplace design consultancy DEGW.
But even here, the office of the future is raising its head. You can see it at Google’s vast, playful Chelsea compound, at Bloomberg L.P.’s glass-walled nerve center on Lexington Avenue and at the bright, airy headquarters of the advertising firm JWT, with its high ceilings, sweeping staircases, bold color schemes and natural light.
If part of the concept is simply to create a space that’s visually arresting, there’s also a method to the modness. Which is to update the office for the Information Age, changing its form to reflect the new ways mobile, digital-era workers function, and to encourage different ways of thinking and collaborating.
So, for example, the sleek “micro-kitchens” at Google are one of many features designed to promote spontaneous interaction, while the open floor plans and glass-walled conference rooms at Bloomberg speak to the firm’s dedication to “openness.”
“It’s good design, but it’s also saying, ‘This is what we’re about,’” says chief Bloomberg spokeswoman Judith Czelusniak. “We’re facilitating a certain way of working rather than just putting on a show.”
Beyond that, there’s another concept at work, which is that an attractive space is better than an unattractive one, and that if you give employees who slave long hours a nice place to do it, it’s going to make them happier — and more productive.
“I think people are working harder because this is a place where they want to be,” says Rosemarie Ryan, the president of JWT North America. “We spend a lot of our time at work, and this is a place worth spending time in.”
And, she notes, “Our business has doubled in the past five years, at a time when others in our industry have stalled or are in decline.”
To see how the workplace of the 21st century is shaping up, @work visited a few city offices that Dilbert wouldn’t recognize:
GOOGLE’S INNOVATIVE OFFICE SPACE