Changing Workplace : When All Else Is Said, Design Is Still Pivotal
Something’s happening at the office--something’s happening to the office. Experts in disciplines ranging from artificial intelligence to interior design are rethinking how, when, why and where we work. Although their viewpoints and forecasts differ, all agree with Washington strategic planner Maree S. Forbes that “the rate of change in the U.S. workplace is unprecedented in our history and will touch us all.” Times staff writer Connie Koenenn interviews four of the nation’s top thinkers on work-space design.
For an ugly duckling that started out in life wearing only a green linoleum floor, fluorescent lights and brown vinyl furniture, the American office has undergone a dazzling transformation. That state-of-the-office assessment is from Carol King, who for 10 years has been reviewing everything from executive suites to typewriter tables as editor of Designers West magazine.
“Office design is still in its infancy and we are just beginning to understand that the workplace is much more than a place where we go to work,” said King.
But it is that. And at the magazine’s glass penthouse complex in West Hollywood--where luxuriant plants and an open atrium provide an indoor-outdoor link--King works at a black granite desk in a midnight blue and charcoal office furnished with comfortable down-filled furniture and lots of desk and file space.
She describes it as an ideal contemporary work environment, “both livable and elegant,” and indicative of how far office design has come since the drab days of gray metal desks and file cabinets.
“Design is pivotal to the way we work and the quality of our work. It affects the way we think and the way we feel. It can activate our nervous system or help us relax; it can make us sick, it can make us well.”
That’s a large responsibility, she acknowledged, particularly for a profession that is still emerging. “The idea of the ‘designed office’ for the typical white-collar worker is really something that has developed (only) since World War II, but so much has occurred in those decades.” One indication is the growth of the U.S. office furniture industry from a $1-billion market in 1970 to $8 billion this year. But that’s only part of the picture, said King.
In the future, King sees corporate clients increasingly interested in offices that will make their employees happy.
And designers working on those offices have taken on a whole package of technological and aesthetic needs, including air quality, light, space, acoustics and ergonomics. They are exploring space planning, the impact of color and lighting on creativity, the impact of acoustics and air quality on productivity, and a dozen other areas.
Social issues, too, have made their way onto the design agenda. “We are going into a decade with a new awareness about the environment, and about not consuming natural materials that can’t be replenished,” observed King. “At the same time, we’re becoming more aware that people at work need a sense of nature--they need windows and sunlight, or grass or trees.”
With so many technical drummers to march to in the quest for the physically correct workplace, designers need to beware of the danger of losing the artist within themselves, she added. “One can forget the very important role for the designer of just being able to walk into a room and realize at the visceral level if the place looks and feels good.”
“We’ve come a long way in office design, with many areas being expanded on technologically and aesthetically, but the wave hasn’t even crested,” King said. “Harmonizing all the voices is the goal for the 21st Century.”
The current labor force of 117 million includes more than 70 million office workers, she added, and the percentage is climbing steadily, “If we continue to make progress on these aspects of the workplace, we have the opportunity to make a lot of people healthy and happy through design, and to influence the productivity of America.”
King is editor in chief of Designers West magazine. She received 1987 Partners in Excellence award from Southern California and Nevada chapters of American Society of Interior Designers.
