Everyone agrees that in the future, office work will not disappear, but will alternate with smart working. Illuminating the thought of the main architectural studios and their designers Alessandro Adamo di Lombardini 22 and his brand DEGW, Francesco Conserva of Open Project, Park Associati and Massimo Roj of Progetto CMR who have always been involved in the design of workspaces.
This is a moment of reflection for office designers, Lombardini 22 and DEGW, Open Project, Park Associati and Progetto CMR have developed a vision on the future workspace that has many common aspects. The pandemic has changed many things, among the many also the way of working and designers face change with different solutions, always bringing into the field all their experience and their typical ability to see beyond, understanding that the main ingredient of processing is flexibility.
Designing hybrid spaces
Alessandro Adamo, Partner Lombardini22 and Director DEGW talks about coexistence between work from home and office: "While we have seen that you can work even without going to the office, on the other hand we realized how important it is to have a physical and symbolic space to meet. I’m thinking of an immersive, empathetic and reconfigurable office, a sort of constantly moving technological setting where the individual can feel comfortable. The key word is always flexibility: the offices are multitasking and versatile, they perform several functions simultaneously."
The centrality of man in the work space is an essential condition for Francesco Conserva of Open Project: "The key goal of the offices we build today for tomorrow is to put employee experience at the center, focusing on the quality of the environments and creating a fluid and hybrid space that adapts quickly to change. The new offices will increasingly resemble domestic spaces because they will have a greater social function: lounge areas with wired armchairs and tables, standing flash meeting spaces and flexible products, which can be moved, coupled for the operating stations, adaptable to different comforts and needs depending on the user who occupies them. The materials of these products will have an important role: they will be sanitizable and sustainable."
Also for Park Associati the workspace becomes liquid: "We don’t think that smart working will prevent office work, but we will see an interesting development of workplaces as spaces that can change over time and over the day. We will need products that meet the needs of flexibility, like modular solutions. Transparency and privacy can coexist in the workspaces thanks to high-tech materials."
Massimo Roj, CEO of the design company Progetto CMR tells how he sees the office of the future: "What I call external work centers will be born, a format that we are imagining as aggregators, also developed on the basis of productive specializations and skills, such as craft or digital and technological. I believe the co-working can become the point of aggregation of people working in neighborhoods. From Working Space to Living Place, this is the transformation in place. Work must become smart, as well as spaces and furnishings".
When change takes shape
Going into more detail, the designers of the four studios illustrate which products will define the workspace they have designed. The study Lombardini22 and DEGW thinking about the advanced solutions for acoustics, lighting and ergonomics on the market today and used for projects such as JTI offices, Agos, EY of Rome and Facile.it is convinced that companies are working well on the essential issues of comfort and well-being of people.
The design of the work space, according to Open Project, is linked above all to the continuous dialogue with those who will occupy the environment, with the company, with its employees, its managers and its visitors as in the project EVO Bonfiglioli Reducers in the province of Bologna. All this is interpreted by excellent companies in the sector that have been able to respond to the needs of customers: Pedrali, Fantoni, Forum Progetti, Paolo Castelli, Billiani, Estel, Tecno, Zumtobel and Davide Groppi to name a few.
The lighting choices are a very important factor for the well being working in the design of the Park Associates who recently developed together with 3F Filippi a lighting system applied in the international law firm Allen & Overy, in Milan. It is a system called 3F HD that stems from the desire to innovate the lighting of office spaces, a real need, given the growing demand for solutions aimed at energy saving, visual comfort and current LEED and WELL certifications.
CMR project, thinking about future workspaces and those just concluded such as the CMR Project Headquarters, the Huawei Showroom, Prima Assicurazione offices and the Munich Re offices speaks about numerous products designed by them such as the Be system. 1 by Frezza and Seventy Seven by CUF Milano. Privée, the line of armchairs and sofas with soundproof canopy, made by Ares Line and the Phonewalk designed for Citterio. Poltrona Frau Group (Lifestyle Design) Fly_Air seating and the Lead executive chairs produced by Las Mobili. Revo, an office table system designed for Manerba, very versatile and able to meet all the new needs of domestic spaces. Eggboard, the sound absorbing lighting system designed for Artemide.