The modern workplace is ripe for change. It’s safe to say that the myth of the open office as a beacon of work collaboration and efficiency has been thoroughly debunked. And somewhere between the fall of WeWork, the torchbearer for coworking spaces; the growing trend of remote work; and the gray cubicles we all remember from Office Space, we will find the office design of tomorrow. The nature of work is in flux. Therefore, the nature of office design is in flux, too.
As part of Fast Company‘s Work in 2040 package, which examines work culture, the nature of people management, artificial intelligence and data, and even how global warming will affect your 9-5 in 2040, we asked five top designers and architects to skip the immediate growing pains of shifting work culture in 2020 and imagine what the office design 20 years in the future might look like. Then we gave them free rein.
The results range from an office with streets in the sky; to biophilic architectural structures made from fungus and bacteria; to an aquatic workplace made of pools (anyone want to take a dip in the shark tank?). One thing is guaranteed—all the concepts will make you think, whoa.
Herman Miller
The office of the future will be unrecognizable by today’s standards, but not for the reasons that you might think. Yes, tech, tech, tech, but in 2040, workplaces will behave and feel a whole lot more like nature.
By 2040, artificial intelligence will help us master the art and science of translating complex relationships–the cultural and operational DNA of organizations–into dynamic, data-driven connections with the built environment. As new individuals join and as existing members evolve, our physical environments will adapt, just like a coral reef or rainforest that’s impacted by the addition or removal of species.
Sounds far out, but it’s not a new idea. In 1968, visionary inventor Robert Propst proclaimed, “the total behavior of an organization, its goals, values, people, defines the true growth structure required. Appropriately this is not just one thing. It is properly as variable as the difference between the structure of a rose and an oak tree. Both are alive, growing, obeying the laws of total relative adjustment but with different end goals.”
Beyond serving as a blueprint for org structures, nature also provides a guide for sensory engagement. Unlike today’s sensorially static offices, the workplace of 2040 will reflect and amplify the diversity and richness of life. Within the workplace, each functional group is distinguished by a unique sensory profile that benefits the nature of their work. As cognitive science reveals more about the mind and intelligence–both human and artificial–we’ll align the sensory stimuli of environments with the cognitive function of people. —Joseph White, director of workplace futures and insight