This morning, 77 million Americans got up and went to work in an office. Increasingly, Americans log their 40-plus hours in spaces with an open concept design, unassigned seating, exposed ceilings and maybe a ping pong table. But are choices and creative office really solving a problem?
During the rise of the creative office in the late 2000s, the New York Times reinvigorated discussion of an important concept: decision fatigue. The concept states that having too many choices can have an adverse effect on one's ability to make good decisions.
Gensler principal Paul Manno says creating good workplaces has always been about offering choice, but this push for collaboration and flexibility hasn't necessarily being thoughtful and has gone too far. Architects and designers can't fill a space with some lounge chairs and sofas and call it choice; they must get smarter, Paul says.