This is What the Future of the Workplace Looks Like
We don’t work the way we did ten years ago. So how will we work ten years from now? More importantly, how will we work tomorrow? Following a landmark year at NeoCon, we are exploring what the future holds for work, the workplace, and the connections between the two. Having won the Best Overall Showroom at NeoCon this year, Steelcase’s new products, spaces, and ideas give us an idea of how workplace design is adapting to the evolving future: with spaces that are human, creative, and connected.
Human spaces in the Steelcase NeoCon showroom
How can organizations draw out the potential of their people? The workplace of the future—the workplace we need—is one that supports the multitudinous human connections made throughout the day. We need places where people feel comfortable to share their ideas, to better their work, to learn and to fail. The workplace needs to be as human as those who use it.
In the Steelcase showroom this year we saw fabrics, finishes, spaces, and technologies that encourage creative and productive human behavior in the workplace. The showroom was a specimen in the art of balance: displaying zones for both collaborative and private work; creating opportunities for corporate branding as well as individualization; and playing with typically residential patterns and materials on commercial furniture. The result is a space that encourages collaboration and creative problem-solving with the tools to make it happen.
Creative spaces in the Steelcase NeoCon showroom
Is creativity bound to a few narrow industries – art, design, marketing, media, music?
Our partners at Steelcase are suggesting otherwise. Through the development of their new Creative Spaces, which feature technology and furniture that augment creative thinking for every industry, the manufacturer positions creativity as the new productivity.
To this end, Steelcase conducted a study among organizations around the idea of creative work. The results show that 72% of people surveyed feel creativity is a necessary 21st century skill. Conversely, 61% of leaders don’t feel their organization is creative, and 69% of people don’t feel they are living up to their creative potential. This disparity became one of the driving forces for the design of Creative Spaces.
While you may expect the five Creative Spaces to feature whiteboards, sofas, big patterns and playful colors—and some of them do—you may not expect spaces like the Respite Room, which is designed to host one person and their personal device. The Respite Room encourages the kind of loose, light daydreaming that allows the brain to both reflect and recharge. Because if creativity is the new productivity, then the mind needs ways to be energized for both.
Connected spaces in the Steelcase NeoCon showroom
With the advent of technologies connecting us to one another, our work, our homes, and the rest of the world, it’s tempting to wonder how far this digital revolution will take us. Are we losing our human connections in favor of virtual ones?
Quite the opposite.
Steelcase’s partnership with Microsoft shows us that these new technologies are created to make our human connections more meaningful and better supported. From devices like the Surface Hub to the Surface Studio, these touch-screen tools are prepared to support people and work.
Interested in learning more about the future of work? Schedule a visit to our showroom to experience creative spaces and the latest industry insights.
