We are often told that we’re on the cusp of enormous changes.
It is true that the way organizations are resetting the relationship between people, technology, and space, the way that work fits within cities—all of these things are hugely in flux at the moment. In 2018, for once I actually believe the hyperbole around transformational change. The future of work shouldn’t be underestimated.
As an academic, I like to look at history because it tells you a lot about what might happen. If you look at the last years of the 19th century or the early years of the 20th, there was a set of industrial technologies that were absolutely revolutionizing the workplace: the telephone, the typewriter, the elevator, the adding machine, the electric lightbulb.
These technologies didn’t all come along at once, but eventually they combined to create something completely new: the modern industrial office. And we’re in the same position now with digital technologies for smart buildings—the internet of things, wireless networks, location-based sensors, intelligent buildingmanagement systems, augmented and virtual reality, AI, robotics. It’s not by themselves that they’re going to change architectural space, but collaboratively with the amount of data that smart buildings will generate.
Architects and designers have always worked off data, such as org charts, head counts, or net usable space on floor plans. But soon they will have much more dynamic big data to create spaces: building occupancy, email, calendars, meeting room data, all kinds of things. This information is going to allow them to map organizational networks over physical office landscapes.
For that reason, the concept of “landscape” is going to be a big theme in 2018. The idea of it is more holistic—it suggests a variety of distinctive neighborhoods with different characters. It also suggests the introduction of natural materials and elements. Biophilic design will be big over the next 12 months. Vast plains of low-choice and low-segmentation open-plan spaces will give way to a wider range of settings for different types of work, with more private and enclosed spaces reintroduced so people can focus.
Furthermore, smart buildings will know more about the behavior and preferences of the people who work in them than ever before. I like the term real-time real estate because it conjures up an image of real estate managers sitting in front of one visual dashboard and having control in real time of all the vital signs of a connected building.
In this scenario, the workplace is no longer a dumb container for work. It is intelligent and predictive.
For example, artificial intelligence systems will analyze behavioral patterns and predetermine how people will use space. The workplace will be much more tailored: Light levels and ambient conditions will automatically adjust to your preferences. When the building is absolutely packed, it will automatically turn down the temperature and so forth. You end up with a kind of “user-predicted” workplace, as opposed to just a “user-centered” workplace.