What will the office look like in 10 years? 6 experts predict the future
By Emily Wright, The Spaces via CNNSTYLE
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“What will we see more of — and what will we see less of?We will see more flexibility of space usage. For example, building cafeterias that were only used during breakfast and lunch hours in the past will serve as collaborative work spaces and meeting rooms. Open space offices will be divisible at the click of a button. We will see fewer long-term leases. While businesses will still require and benefit from co-locating their employees, they will want more flexibility to add and subtract space as their needs evolve.”
It happens every few years: a seismic shift in the way we live our lives fuels a change in human behavior so significant, it blows the concept of the office as we know it out of the water.
Modern technology is no exception. Fast becoming the catalyst behind one of the biggest shake-ups the office has ever seen — from design to location and from sustainability to well-being — it is the shift of our generation. And hard though it may be to believe that robotic security guards and app-controlled meeting rooms are just the beginning, there is still a long way to go.
So what might the workplace of the future look like? We asked six office-space experts from around the world to hazard a guess as to where, and how, we will all be working in 10 years from now.
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“What will the office look like in 10 years’ time?
Dan Harvey: We’re already starting to see a push-back on some of the tech and the elimination of privacy. So a departure from open-plan as a blanket design default and a move back to some private offices. Collaboration is great but there is an emerging feeling that without a choice, people are sometimes finding it challenging to get stuff done. So through that push for a productive workforce, future offices may become more private again.”