Columnists

We shape the world’s cities, then they shape us

by • Architecture, Comment, Knowledge, Property

The story of the world’s cities is often told not in words but in numbers. This is especially the case with the megacities – those with a  population in excess of 10 million – which obtain enough critical mass not only to produce eye boggling statistics but also to distort the fabric of whole regions […]

Our hardwired response to patterns can be a useful trait for designers

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

Our ability to recognise patterns is hardwired. We instinctively and often unconsciously look for patterns everywhere. Where none exist we often impose them, grouping things  together according to their colour, shape, texture, number, taste, smell, touch or function. We do this to make sense of the world and to understand what goes on around us. […]

Office design goes to the movies. Part 3 – Being John Malkovich

by • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

  [embedplusvideo height=”200″ width=”230″ standard=”https://www.youtube.com/v/lu3sXQ9t-6c?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=lu3sXQ9t-6c&width=230&height=200&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep8940″ /]   In which John Cusack plays an unemployed puppeteer who takes a mundane office clerk’s job in the low-ceilinged offices on Floor 7½ of the Mertin Flemmer Building in New York. When he asks his boss why the ceilings are so low, he is told ‘low overhead my […]

Where are the muggles in Terry Farrell’s architecture policy review?

by • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, News, Property

One of the standard complaints commonly ascribed to facilities managers and others who work to manage our buildings and the people and stuff inside them is that they are not consulted well enough when it comes to their development, architecture and design. Well, now they may have a chance to see how that all feels […]

Video: Forget Yahoo – why telecommuting is good for your business

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

  [embedplusvideo height=”157″ width=”230″ standard=”https://www.youtube.com/v/R2whPdnCGrM?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=R2whPdnCGrM&width=230&height=157&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep4389″ /]   Think you’ve seen every possible angle on the recent Yahoo-ha about flexible working? Maybe not because here’s a unique take on the subject courtesy of the guys at MinuteMBA. We’d like to invite somebody to animate the other side of the argument but while we can […]

Why office furniture leasing is not necessarily a great option

by • Comment, Furniture

It seems like a perfect idea. The business needs new desks, chairs and cupboards and that refurbishment is long overdue. Or perhaps it’s time to move and the old furniture won’t make it in one piece. The furniture supplier wants to make the sale. Business has been slow and it’s the end of the month […]

The resistance to flexible working is entirely reasonable

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

In recent media coverage of the decision by Yahoo to ban homeworking as well as a recent survey from Microsoft, the resistance to the idea that people work better when they are allowed to work flexibly has typically been put down to cultural inertia. Sometimes those who have resisted the uptake of flexible working have […]

Office design goes to the movies. Part 1 – Zoolander

by • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

Zoolander may not be a great film but it has its moments and does come alive every time the Mugatu character arrives to eat up the scenery. Of course, as an unreconstructed deskhead, I am always tempted to  look over the shoulders of the characters in a film to see what they are sitting on. Mugatu […]

Video: how networks of engaged people can achieve more than nations

by • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Property, Technology, Workplace design

[embedplusvideo height=”157″ width=”230″ standard=”https://www.youtube.com/v/f2k2_dN-REc?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=f2k2_dN-REc&width=230&height=157&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep8069″ /]   In spite of all its flaws, the Internet can empower people to address specific issues in ways that exceed the abilities of nation states. In this energising talk for the Royal Society for the Arts, Don Tapscott, a Canadian businessman and now one of the world’s leading authorities […]

What Alan Bennett can teach us about taste

by • Architecture, Comment, Products, Workplace design

The idea of taste is a strange one, not least when we’re surrounded by people guiding our tastes in everything from cars to wine, food, clothes, house design, office design, restaurants, holidays, language, art, music, books and film. The problem with an acceptance of what we mean by ‘good taste’ is that it acts as a […]

Suppliers need to take responsibility for green labelling of products

by • Comment, Environment, Workplace design

We all like to think we are discerning about what we will and won’t put in our trolleys at the supermarket. Not any old salty, fat saturated gloop will make the cut these days. That’s why food producers like to proclaim its healthiness on packaging, regardless of the nature of the product within. ‘Lower fat’ […]

Where flexible working employees really want to work? Starbucks.

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace

Leaving aside the fact that most surveys are designed to further the commercial interests of the firms that commission them, most offer a deal of insight into what drives people and organisations, some of it unwitting. Most telling are often the specific details that lift the veil on the motivations and attitudes of individuals. So […]

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