I am a student of the office. Over the past 50 years, I have designed, planned, and furnished countless corporate and flex office suites. This blog is about some of my memories, some history, and some of what I have learned about the office going forward.
The modern era of office planning began with the arrival of the Quickborner Team in the 1950’s. I didn’t learn about them until the late 1960’s. Up to that time, office plans consisted of 30×60 desks and chairs lined up regimentally. The open plan was usually surrounded by private offices. Except for typewriters, adding machines, and telephones, the office had not changed, substantially, in 100 years. Office plans lacked privacy, individuality, and personality. The Quickborner team changed that with their organic planning concepts. Their plans were open, free flowing and colorful. They had natural, meandering circulation patterns. Moveable low partitions provided workstation privacy. Plants added to the natural, informal environment. These concepts are generally referred to as office landscaping.
Then, in 1968, Herman Miller unveiled the Action Office 2 furniture system. I attended the manufacturer’s second product presentation of this new furniture concept. It was exciting. The system was meant to support dynamically changing office environments. Partitions were moveable, modular, and connectable. Work surfaces, shelving, and file storage were suspended from the partitions. I designed one of the earliest word processing centers with the Action Office 2 system. It had state of the art office technology. It would be archaic by today’s standards. Outside sales people dictated messages on tape recorders located in the center. Typists transcribed the messages into hard copy. I based the design on Quickborner’s office landscaping concepts. The function may have been boring but the working environment was fun.
What followed, was the cubicle revolution. Many furniture manufacturers joined Herman Miller in selling products like Action Office 2. Office furniture systems were marketed as space saving and flexible office solutions. They were neither. Workstation plans rarely changed after their initial installation. Furniture systems became more complex and included more specialized parts. Multiple electrical circuits and spaces for data lines were added to panel bases. Ineffective acoustical treatments were applied to panel surfaces as attempts to control problems with ambient sound. Evolving office technologies added more furniture components. Furniture installations required specialized installers and specifiers. In major corporations, large, rigid cubicle plans returned to regimentation. They became colorless, impersonal working environments. Worker isolation became a problem. The result was an office facility that was defined, simply and coldly, as a place where work got done.
Office cubicles began to disappear as the boomer generation aged and Generation X appeared. The boomers coined the term “workaholic.” Gen Xers discarded “workaholism” in favor of a work/life balance. They dressed casually, and introduced the personal computer to the office. The millennial generation followed and introduced the internet. Millennials believed in collaboration and team work. This group preferred a social atmosphere in the workplace. Generation Z is the youngest working group. They are the first true digital generation. They don’t mind working alone or remotely. They are entrepreneurial, independent, and pragmatic. They don’t need a conventional office. The oldest Gen Z person is 26.
What did all these generational changes mean to office design? Over time, some office walls and office furniture system cubicles began to disappear. The conventional desk became an adjustable height table with mobile storage. Goal oriented teams became more common. The affect was the need for an increased variety of office spaces. The private office, however, did not disappear entirely. Independent workers, start-up companies, and remote workers still preferred them. Many large, medium, and small companies still had rigid management levels and workstation hierarchies. Generational impacts were continuing to affect working environments and management styles. The terms “flexible,” “agile”, and “wellness” became more common in new office descriptions. A new goal in office design emerged that provided a welcoming, positive working environment. Large open spaces were dedicated to cafes and lounge/collab areas. Plants and access to sunlight added natural, healthy informality. Generational affects transformed the office facility into a welcoming destination rather than just a place to work.
The greatest change to the office occurred on June 29, 2007. That was the date Apple released the iPhone. This invention, effectively, put the office into the palm of your hand. Over the following sixteen years, the iPhone and other smart phones expanded communication capabilities locally and worldwide. Innumerable application services were added. The office worker was no longer tethered to an office workstation. Wired desk phones and desk top computers were unnecessary. The advent of the smart phone affected all working generations. It reduced the needs for many office support positions. It changed Industries such as office furniture and office products. It reduced office space requirements and negatively affected commercial real estate.
The smart phone allowed the office to go home when the Covid 19 pandemic of 2020 occurred. Home officing had always been an option. Home computers and the smartphone made home officing a workable, comfortable alterative to the conventional office. Zoom, Skype and other applications supported most office functions and face to face collaboration. Flexible shared workplace centers became options for person-to-person communal interactions and meetings when the pandemic passed.
Currently, many companies are attempting to bring the workforce back to the centralized office. Methods include bonus dollars, part time officing or “hybrid” presence and enforced returns. Those who return to the centralized office, will require generationally enhanced working environments.
Going forward, I believe corporate offices will continue to decentralize. Alternate officing solutions will continue to grow with new variations and popularity. The exceptions may be offices connected to manufacturing facilities where direct contact with plant productivity is needed. Artificial intelligence applications, growth in information technology, amenities, and connectivity will govern the locations of future offices.
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