Herman Miller considers what the office of the future will be, in response to the changing face of work, in its latest investigation: Work, Redefined – The Design Challenge 2021.
Designers were invited to conceptualize a future workplace, submitting their concepts to a panel of expert judges.
The winner of the 2021 challenge was Melbourne-based design studio SLAB, which put community at the core of its imagined workplace. With remote work an ongoing prospect, SLAB argued that the office needs to offer “social opportunity, human connection and collaboration.”
There are four essential elements that make up SLAB’s concept – Pods, Gardens, Walls and Curtains. Each element responds to principles SLAB believes are essential to the future office: community, agility, collaboration, the individual, wellness, balance, accessibility, sustainability and flexibility.
The office “should be able to shift, move, adapt, evolve, and change,” says the SLAB team.
Image: SLAB
SLAB envisages Pods being ordered online in a range of sizes and configurations to suit an organization’s needs. The Temple pod is a space for reading, focus work and “doing things you love.” Resort is an in-office wellness pod for yoga, workouts, meditation and more. Home offers a comfortable setting with space for employees’ family to hang out, with the option of including a laundry or kitchenette. And Hall invites social interaction over meals.
The Gardens provide space for team building and food cultivation.
The Walls and Curtains – fluted glass sliding walls and white cotton curtains on tracks – allow organizations to turn large meeting spaces into smaller spaces geared at collaboration or focus work, or to close off sections when fewer people are in the office.
Modular and highly flexible, thanks to the prefabricated pods, this system allows companies to adjust their workplace. The office “should be able to shift, move, adapt, evolve, and change,” says the SLAB team.
The whole system is built on a grid. The high street and gardens are the only permanent elements, and they form the underlying structure that allows other elements to operate dynamically.
SLAB has conceived an agile, accessible workplace that adapts to users’ requirements. The concept is a realistic, functional and original approach that offers insight into the potential of the office.
Herman Miller
Source: Architecture - architectureau
