If you’ve been inside any workplace renovated within the last few years, you’ve probably noticed that once-ubiquitous private offices are giving way to open floor plans with a variety of spatial configurations, from desk clusters to counters to lounge seating. At the same time, architects and clients are finding common ground in designing for health, embracing that the places in which we work can help or hinder our wellbeing.
One of the more recent trends in this regard is the standing desk, which, despite having been developed centuries ago, has been adopted more broadly in the wake of sensationalist articles that proclaim, among other cardiovascular horrors, that sitting is the new smoking. Suddenly, there's a growing push to bring wellness to the office in ways both big and small.
In the anti-sitting camp are researchers whose studies (with spine-chilling titles such as “The Role of Low Energy Expenditure and Sitting on Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease”) show that sedentary behavior can have detrimental effects to one’s overall health. And proponents of standing enjoy citing a 2016 study released by Texas A&M, which boasted within its findings of a 45 percent increase in productivity from office workers whose desks could be converted to standing desks. But standing all day may prove as uncomfortable over the long term as sitting. As such, the workplace battle over posterior versus posture may be more nuanced than a simple all-or-nothing approach.