When the door slither close , everything went unsounded . I could n’t hear any of the chatter or mental synthesis outside . It was weirdly intimate . I was sitting in a tiny seedcase — wrapped in a cryptical gullible felt , with its own built - in work bench , desk , and lighting — contrive by a company waging warfare on the candid office .
The pod was go down up inside Chicago ’s Merchandise Mart , a construction so large it has its own zipcode , whereSteelcase — which is have it off for high - price office piece of furniture that makes your work desk feel like a public toilet — was train to showa series of prototype pattern during a furniture expo this calendar week . These range from a hot desk mesh that continue spaces quiet and machinate , to stand up - alone function pods like the one I was pose in , designed to make introverts in the work a petty more comfortable .
I felt wholly alone — in a good means .
Killing the Open Plan
The Open Plan has been roll in the hay up work culture for almost 70 years . In the 1950s , the theme emerged that commit your employees in a single open space increased productivity and collaboration . But over the yesteryear tenner , a serial of work have indicate that the open plandoes the opposite by alienating and distracting employee .
The tide is turn against the candid plan , and Steelcase is capitalizing on it . Last year it collaborate with Susan Cain , the introvert advocate and generator ofQuiet : The Power of Introverts in a World That Ca n’t Stop Talking , who say that as much as 30 percent of the work force is invaginate — and that by fail to design for them , companies are losing money . Working with Cain , the company release a series of pod - style offices and piece of furniture that ’s oriented towards what they callThe Quiet Ones .
Not many company are likely to spring for such an expensive resolution — fancy government agency cod for everyone!—but Steelcase is designing stand - alone spaces that can be inclose into opened architectural plan spaces and used by everyone , thanks to its native reserve software .
In one seemingly understood pod - panache room , I sat down in a lounger and recognize that it was linked to a computer ’s audio frequency , making it potential to take a call in secrecy without fall back to headphone .
The Curse of the Hot Desk
If you work in an office with “ hot desk , ” you ’re probably familiar with its downsides : Constantly try out to envision out which spots are detached . Co - workers who you do n’t know well enough to ask to tranquillize down . Unknown environmental quirk , like a sweltering warming vent or Methedrine cold-blooded windowpane .
One paradigm Steelcase is working on , called “ Smart Screen , ” tried to mitigate that with a cadre of sensors and an ambient trailing system . It ’s really a souped - up rendering of a simple felt desk divider that Steelcase already betray . But the company ’s designer have hollowed out the interior and supply sensors that track when the desk is occupy . They ’ve also connected it to a reservation system where you’re able to appropriate stain for specific times — and maintain track of which butt you use the most .
There are sensor for temperature and noise , too . When chatter reaches a critical level , it flashes a signal on the screen nearby to remind your co - worker to quiet down . The estimation is to make asking your neighbour to shut their traps just a petty less awkward — though how much less sticky casting a “ please shut up ” bat signaling to the office really is continue to be figure .
About That Awkward Lounge Area
Another mistaken trope of office design these days is the alone set of waiting area president — or maybe a conference table — that many company will order around its nicest open space , often in front of a windowpane with a great view . As Steelcase point out , these spaces are ordinarily empty . They ’re exposed to the entire office , and often to a ton of dealings and noise — which constitute focusing hard .
The company ’s semi - enclosed dillydallier look more like first - course aeroplane tail end than workstations . The mind is to give you a modicum of privacy in turgid , high - traffice office areas . Inside , a capacitive touch interface embedded in a wood panel countenance you shriek in ambient noise tracks , for example .
Each station is wire with outlets and firing — and heated seats ( ! ? ) — and when they ’re occupied , a thin LED around the boundary turns scarlet so passersby do n’t want to peek over your station to check .
Steelcase is a company with a very proficient reason to push against current trends in agency figure : It wants to sell your company on all the architectural solutions that can bushel them . At the same time , it ’s huge company like this that get to dictate what a “ productive ” post looks like , and it ’s interesting to see one of them focusing on how environmental design affects employees ’ well being .
In the end , piece of work is work is work : No office will ever be a place you wish you could live . But while we ’re here , we might as well make ourselves well-heeled .
reach out to the author at[email protected ] .
Design
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