Monday, March 28, 2011

Fifteen Trends That Will Reshape The Office

(ucsf capital + facilities management, lounge: STUDIOS, san francisco)

1. The decline of the cubicle. Cubicle sales peaked in 2000 when they accounted for nearly 37 percent of all office furniture sales. This has fallen to 26 percent. Corporations now prefer more open spaces that foster collaboration.

2. More gathering spaces. Informal meetings, workers plop down with laptop or iPod.

3. Work lounges - but work gets done here.

4. The demise of foosball - Play games at home on your own time.

5. Less space, work flexibility is the status symbol, not the big office.

6. Wormhole - A workstation dedicated to online video-conferencing, with a connection to other key offices around the world.

7. Electronic Whiteboard - Communicates with the laptop by Bluetooth - Trend towards collaborative tools that benefit everyone in the room, not just a few.

8. Standing-room meeting table.

9. Work benches - Long tables with roving plugs for laptops, no legs or obstructions underneath, flexible and able to accommodate more or fewer workers.

10. Walkstation -- Walk on a treadmill while answering email on a computer set up ergonomically so you can reach it without tripping - At some companies workers rotate for 15 or 30 minute sessions and these are becoming popular for home.

11. The Shared Office - Like office hoteling but more fixed time schedules for telecommuters or road warriors.

12. The Switch Office - Doubles as a small meeting or conference room.

13. More Glass - Openness and approachability.

14. The Dinner Booth - Use hallways or other open areas with booths like you see in restaurants - Colleagues can grab a cup of coffee, sit down for an informal meeting.

15. The Empty Office - The ultimate status symbol, you have an office but you don't have to go there. These trends were published almost 1 year ago (march 2010). Many of these are right on target with what we see and here from our clients and what we want in our own office.

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