Why do we strike up more spontaneous conversations with people in bars than we do in the workplace? The answer isn’t alcohol—it’s the eye height you engage with people at.

In bars, the counter and stools are placed at a height that puts those sitting and standing at the same eye-level. The height of the counter and matching stools is so well established at between 40 to 42 inches that it’s known as “bar height.” Eliminating this 12-inch difference naturally engineers conversations between strangers who are now both sitting and standing face-to-face. That 12-inch difference makes casual conversations much more likely to happen. (And not just because you’re two glasses of wine into your evening.)

By this logic, in order to facilitate communication and collaboration, we should make our workplaces more like bars. Without the drinking.

Via qz.com

As a child, my mother would tell me, “Finish your work first, then you can play.” The idea that work is a task to complete before life can happen has colored my academic and professional life. It’s a widespread concept that cripples creativity and drains the joy from work by severing the connection between passion and productivity. As we design for the workplace, we begin to question the concept of work, as well as our attitudes and beliefs about it. To continue to evolve workplace design, we must return to the core of our practice, with a willingness to examine, challenge, redefine and broaden our perceptions of work.

While there is general consensus that the most successful people love what they do, it’s easy to fall into the trap of designing for single-purpose, machine-like employees. I have had clients who monitor employee trips to the restroom because they see it as lost productivity. I have had clients who are more concerned about maintaining their hierarchy than elevating their people.

Via callisonrtkl.com 

How many of your colleagues that you work with on a daily basis have a disability? Chances are it’s more than you think.

As many as one in three professionals in the U.S. has some form of disability, whether it be a visual impairment or mobility issue, and most of them simply make do with what their offices have to offer.

Fortunately, many employers go above and beyond the requirements of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by leveraging inclusive design.

Examples of inclusive design in the workplace can include door handles that are levers rather than knobs, flat-panel light switches rather than the traditional toggle switches, large-print labeling and instructions for equipment, wide doorways and hallways and spacious alcoves with turning space.

Via jllrealviews.com 

Look around you—do you have a cubicle, standing desk, or are you reading this on a mobile device?  As the boundaries between “living to work, and working to live” stretch, working environments are changing fast to keep up.

Just like clothes and music, office settings go in and out of style.  Depending on when you entered the workforce (and your industry), you may have had a traditional office, a nook, cubicle, or the kind of communal work spaces associated with contemporary start-ups.

Via brightmove.com