Once upon a time, cutting-edge office spaces consisted of restrictive cubicle walls that hindered communication. Since then, the trends of workplace design have veered from one extreme to another: designers have been creating open plan workplaces, many with acoustic problems and a debilitating lack of privacy. Design firms and manufacturers are now attempting to scale back, searching for a happy medium that allows for both spirited collaboration and private reflection. Metropolis talked to Jennifer Wammack and Mitch Bakker from Michigan-based design studio IDa about three of their recent collections of flexible office furniture designed in collaboration with Gunlocke, to hear their insights into ways of creating seamless transitions between collaborative and private spaces in office design.
Beyond Open Plan: Bringing Privacy Back to the Workplace