The New Office

The modern office as we know it is experiencing a design revolution.  Long gone are the days of polyester clad gray cubicles, stark break rooms bathed in fluorescence, and style less office furniture epitomizing conformity. 

Now, we are also saying goodbye to the anti cubicle aesthetic that came to characterize the last dot-com boom: open offices stuffed with tables and benches, ping pong tables, and in your face design emblematic of a youthful tech counter culture.

Today’s creative and collaborative workspace must satisfy a new, more design savvy generation, while also serving as a visual manifestation of a company’s brand and the aspirations of its employees.  

Lithium, Huntsman, San Francisco

Nokia SF, Gensler, San Francisco

One Workplace, Design Blitz, San Francisco

The office must be a home away from home, with the company headquarters serving the employee as much as the employee serves the company. It needs to be a social hub, a refuge, an inspiration and a symbol, appealing to the youngest coder, the seasoned entrepreneur, and the discerning client. Office design must stimulate dedication, collaboration, and creation through creativity, quality and comfort.  

Air BnB, Interior Design Fair, San Francisco

 Dropbox, Geremia Design, San Francisco

Giant Pixel, O+A, San Francisco

What forces are spearheading this change? 

The line between work and home is blurry. Companies recognize that attracting and keeping the best employees means creating an atmosphere that encourages loyalty, enthusiasm and fun. With tablets, smartphones and laptops allowing less distinction between time at work and time off, amenities have become part of the vetting process.  Workplaces tout restaurants, gyms, daycares, restful spaces, creative spaces to work, and more. Employees are staying with companies longer, and when satisfaction and comfort go up, sick days and leaves of absence go down. 

 Yelp, O+A, San Francisco

Another force at play is the notion that the office environment can actually stimulate creativity.  Companies at the cutting edge of technology and business recognize that adopting these new design principles are necessary to generate the ideas that mean the success of their businesses.  By offering people a variety of spaces to think in and work from, creativity and collaboration follow.  

 Twitter, IA, San Francisco

 Obscura Digital, IwamotoScott Architecture, San Francisco

Ebay, Valerio Dewalt Train Assoc., San Jose

“There will be meetings that you can’t necessarily schedule.  So this is where engineers run into people on the finance team, where HR runs into designers.  And all these different perspectives encourage people to think in very, very different ways and helps them be more creative.”  

--- Jack Dorsey, Co-founder and creator of Twitter and CEO of Square