Promotion: Humanscale opens new Manchester showroom

Promotion: Humanscale opens new Manchester showroom

by • Company news, Furniture, Workplace design

Humanscale has opened the doors to its latest showroom in the City of Manchester, reinforcing its presence in the North of England. Located in the Old Town, formerly home to the famous Factory Records label, this is Humanscale’s second showroom in the UK this year, after moving to a new space in the heart of London’s design quarter. When Humanscale originally put down roots in Clerkenwell in 2001 it was the first outpost beyond North America.

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The best office designs of 2018, the future of work in 2019, and some other clickbait

The best office designs of 2018, the future of work in 2019, and some other clickbait

by • Features, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

This week’s beachcomb of the best workplace stories is brought to you in the wake of the first flood of retrospectives and predictions that wash up in the media at this time of year. The first piece of flotsam [sound of a metaphor snapping] is Dezeen’s listing of the world’s best office designs of 2018, which appears to be based on the answers to three questions. Is it a coworking space? Does it look like an office? Is there anybody actually working there? Answer yes, no, no to those three simple questions and you’re in the frame.

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Seven reasons why this will not be the office of the future

Seven reasons why this will not be the office of the future

by • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace design

At this time of year, it seems like we don’t have to wait more than a few hours before some or other organisation is sharing its prognosis about how we will be working in the future. The thing these reports usually share in common, other than a standardised variant of a title and a common lexicon of agility, engagement and connectivity, is a narrow focus based on their key assumptions about what the office of the future will be like. While these are rarely false per se, and often offer valuable insights, they also frequently exhibit a desire to look at only one part of the great workplace elephant. While the more informed reports make excellent points and identify trends,  across most there are routine flaws in thinking that can lead them to make narrow and sometimes incorrect assumptions and so draw similarly flawed conclusions. Talk of the office of the future tells us rather a lot about how we view offices right now.

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Accelerating rate of digital tech and smart buildings to transform the built environment

Accelerating rate of digital tech and smart buildings to transform the built environment

by • AI, Cities, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace design

Accelerating rate of technological change will have big impact on built environmentTechnology is in the process of transforming almost every aspect of society, with change happening at an “accelerating rate,” and this is being made possible due of simultaneous rapid advances in several key areas of technology. This is according to a new White Paper on ‘Megatrends: Smart Building Technology’ from BSRIA (registration required) that predicts this will have a huge impact on construction and building services; from the way buildings are constructed to how they are managed and interact with occupants. More →

Siemens new Swiss campus showcases workplace technology and use of BIM in construction

Siemens new Swiss campus showcases workplace technology and use of BIM in construction

by • Case studies, Company news, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design

Siemens AG has officially opened its new campus in Zug, Switzerland. The Siemens Zug campus features a new office building with 1,000 work spaces and a newly constructed production building. The investment volume for new buildings, renovations and related measures amounts to CHF 250 million. The campus is the international headquarters of the Siemens Building Technologies (BT) Division, which has 29,000 employees. Construction of the office and production buildings began in May 2016 and was completed in July 2018. The Siemens Zug campus is one of the first new projects to use Building Information Modeling (BIM) for design and construction. The digital twin – a 3D model of the building, enhanced with technical information relevant for later operations – is the foundation for efficient, cost-optimised and forward-looking building management. More →

Core Innovation Hub secures funding to transform the way buildings are designed, built and managed

Core Innovation Hub secures funding to transform the way buildings are designed, built and managed

by • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

An alliance of experts specialising in digital, manufacturing, building performance standards and construction technology has been awarded leadership of a new national Hub to drive innovation and technological advances in the UK construction and infrastructure sectors. Following a nationwide competition, Innovate UK has awarded £72 million to the Transforming Construction Alliance to deliver a national Core Innovation Hub, a key element of the Transforming Construction programme. The alliance brings together the specialist expertise of the MTC (Manufacturing Technology Centre), BRE (Building Research Establishment) and the CDBB (University of Cambridge Centre for Digital Built Britain).

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I’m a designer and I job share with an AI

I’m a designer and I job share with an AI

by • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Thomas Edison is credited with the phrase “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration” and I believe there is no field where this applies more than architecture and design. So often people assume that interior design is such a fun, creative job – that it’s all about drawing, colours and furniture, something like being paid to colour in and shop – when today being a designer is just as much about people management, psychology, project management, documentation, checking codes and standards and managing contracts.  It’s also often about a culture that expects long hours and being always available to the job. “It’s not work when you are passionate about it?” is common. But what if instead we could all work less hours and job share with our computers?

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A challenge to traditional law firm design at new London offices for Wikborg Rein

A challenge to traditional law firm design at new London offices for Wikborg Rein

by • Company news, Workplace design

ThirdWay Interiors has recently completed the office design of international law firm; Wikborg Rein in central London. The 12,000 sq. ft space has been designed to challenge the traditionally conservative style of a corporate workplace to create an office that is unique and innovative within the legal sector. With a recruitment drive underway, Wikborg Rein needed space for the current team, future expansion and for visiting colleagues from overseas.

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How the way we interact with technology is changing the way we think

by • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

workplaceWe are all familiar with the emoticon, the little symbol we use to strengthen whatever it is we really mean or would like to convey in a text, chat, message or email. The symbols have become more important as these forms of communication have supplanted some forms of face to face contact. Researchers have now learned that our brains no longer treat emoticons as a form of punctuation, but have started to respond to it as if it were a real face. A study published in the journal Social Neuroscience found that the part of the brain that is activated when we look at real faces is now triggered by smileys too. It’s yet another example of how our brains are adapting to the changing demands placed on them by technology, a subject that not only has profound implications for the way we relate to technology but also the way we work and the ways we design and manage our surroundings and especially how we maintain focus and interact with our colleagues.

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New workplace trends will bring people back to the office, Gensler report suggests

New workplace trends will bring people back to the office, Gensler report suggests

by • Architecture, Cities, News, Workplace design

The next generation of office buildings will draw employees back to the workplace, a new report from architect and design firm Gensler suggests. It suggest that an increased number of employees are set to be drawn back to the office, as the importance and power of face-to-face interaction grows, and office design increasingly caters towards this. This year’s 2018 Design Forecast report, Shaping the Future of Cities (registration required), created by the Gensler Research Institute explores over 200 of the latest trends that are changing cities across the world. The overarching prediction is that design will “put people back at the centre” and become the driving force behind resilient, liveable cities. Buildings that react and respond to the people within it will be critical to the workplace experience, harnessing data to interpret internal workplace data and make intelligent adaptations.

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Line up of speakers announced for Workplace Trends: Research Spring Summit

Line up of speakers announced for Workplace Trends: Research Spring Summit

by • Events, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace design

The research-driven Workplace Trends Spring Summit returns for 2019. We have two sessions with invited guest speakers, our keynote and the after lunch debate. Following a recent Call for Abstracts and a blind peer review by our two moderators for the day, Nigel Oseland (Workplace Unlimited) and Mark Eltringham (Workplace Insight), the remaining sessions have now been filled with the highest ranked submissions.

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New interior design collective launches in Manchester

New interior design collective launches in Manchester

by • Company news, Workplace design

Mix Design Collective in association with Bruntwood, part of Mix Week Manchester, is a brand-new workplace design event that will celebrate the best national and international design products. Created by Mix Group, home to Manchester Headquartered, award winning Mix Interiors magazine and Out There Events, Mix Design Collective will see themed spaces, curated by leading architects and designers including Gensler, Hassell, Faulkner Brown Architects, Incognito, Michael Laird Architects and tp bennett. Heart Space, Health & Wellbeing, Engage, Smart & Connected, New Analogue and Escape will showcase a range of workplace settings incorporating cutting edge design ideas and products. Mix Design Collective is a must attend event and free of charge for those involved in architecture, design, commercial property and construction. Visitors will have access to the design leaders of the future whilst being immersed into the six live working zones.

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