January 2, 2024

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

An idea that has never really gone away, but which seems to be enjoying a new lease of life is the tabula rasa. The conception of people as a blank slate is something that has crept back into mainstream political and social thought for a variety of reasons. Arguably, it is also behind many of the most misleading notions about work and workplace design, perhaps most importantly that a change to some single element or characteristic of a working environment will lead to a specific outcome in the behaviour of people. More →

December 18, 2023

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I’ve sometimes highlighted how our perceptions of the workplace are subject to an apex fallacy. The daily consumption of narratives about campuses, tech palaces and ‘cool’ design can obscure the fact that most people don’t experience this stuff in their daily lives. They work in adequate or possibly nice offices. Some in shabby offices or horrible offices. Many travel into work at the same time each day and sit with roughly the same people and do roughly the same things. They may work from home more frequently now, but they have a routine there too. Most will work in a mundane or nice home that mirrors the mundane office that awaits at the other end of the commute. More →

December 8, 2023

Ten years of Insight and a few things I think I know (one of our most read pieces this year)

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

This website started in late 2012 as a way for me to explore both a new media format and a new way of thinking about work and workplaces. I’d already been active in various roles in the workplace, design and facilities sector for twenty odd years, but needed a new challenge. And this was it. I was going for a ride with an idea to see where it went. More →

October 9, 2023

The future of work has no destination, there is only the journey

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

One of the truisms about depictions of the future is that they often have more to say about the world in which we live than the one to come. So, when George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four the story goes that its title was derived by inverting the numbers of the year in which it was written – 1948. Whatever the truth of this, Orwell understood it was a book as much about the world in which he lived as the one it portrayed. Our images of the future are invariably refracted through the prism of the present. This is just as true for predictions about the future of work, many of which are explored in the new issue of IN Magazine.

October 6, 2023

Are the days of landmark corporate headquarters over?

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

There’s something in the idea that the creation of a bespoke, landmark corporate headquarters is a sign that something has gone wrong – or is about to – for the firm behind it. I’d first developed or come across this idea when visiting British Airway’s Waterside building in the late 1990s. At the time it was arguably the most talked about office building in the world, lauded for its inbuilt urban landscape, mix of settings and humane, biophilic design features. More →

October 5, 2023

From the archive: The way to create a successful workplace is simple, but never easy

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

This was originally published in December 2020. All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. As is now the way of these things, the famous opening words of Anna Karenina have been used to name a principle that is applied across a wide range of fields. It describes how success can only happen in one way, but failure comes in many forms. More →

September 8, 2023

The Works Place

by Mark Eltringham •

Can we talk about sustainable design?

“There are no solutions, there are only trade-offs; and you try to get the best trade-off you can get, that’s all you can hope for.”

Does Thomas Sowell’s (in)famous dictum about the harsh reality of economics and existence describe a permanent condition for sustainable design? Are the materials, supply chains and processes we use merely less worse than their alternatives or can we hope to achieve something that is genuinely better?

That is one of the many complex questions we’ll be addressing at a new interactive event we are hosting at the London Design Festival this year. And we’d love you to come talk to us about it as we look for some answers to the most pressing issues of our time. You can book tickets here.

We have created a space and conversation forum that will showcase the latest and most innovative thinking on sustainable design, circularity, new materials and innovation. Known as The Works Place, products and ideas will be presented in a range of working settings. And most importantly it’s a chance to talk and share your views about what is possible and what we might dream to do better.

Partners include Flokk, Area, Mater, Humanscale, The Collective Agency, Material Matters, Woven Image, Crafting Plastics, Obo, Future Designs, Women in Office Design and The Sustainable Design Collective.

The Works Place is at the iconic five-storey Bargehouse building from 20-23 September as part of Material Matters.

September 8, 2023

The words we borrow from other languages to talk about work and wellbeing

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

We are prone to borrow nuanced words from other languages to express ideas that otherwise need some explaining in English. This includes the way we talk about work, and especially the way we talk about wellbeing and happiness. Perhaps most famously, there was a lot of talk about hygge a couple of years ago. A straight dictionary translation of hygge would be something like cosiness, but the word also embodies an emotion and an approach to life that embraces a certain degree of slowness and an enjoyment of the present moment. It’s no coincidence that it became modish in a distracted and hurried world. Although the concept is usually referred to as Danish, the word itself is shared with Norwegian, which also offers us the word koselig, which means cosiness but also hints at it being best enjoyed at a fireside. More →

August 3, 2023

Issue 16 of IN magazine is now available for you

by Mark Eltringham • IN Magazine, News, Premium Content

The new issue of IN Magazine is now available to read online. The print edition will be posted shortly. In this issue, we look at the ongoing shift in the way we think about work and workplaces but without falling back on the simple, cliched thinking that defines much of that conversation. We consider what happens now for the world’s fringe business districts as Canary Wharf sets out its plans for the future in the wake of HSBC’s announced departure. We report on how domestic design is changing in response to a rapidly evolving world. We look at how the changing work practices of architects are playing out in buildings and cities. And we announce details of our first major event. More →

July 27, 2023

What Aldous Huxley can teach us about acoustics and distractions at work

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Over the last few years there has been something of a loud and widespread backlash to the idea that we need to have constant access to information and our colleagues to work effectively. The touchstone for this pushback is of course the open plan office which has become something of a scapegoat for the universal problem of interruption and distraction and a renewed interest in the complexities of acoustics in office design. It is also one of the main reasons people prefer to work anywhere other than offices some or all of the time. More →

June 23, 2023

Are workplace gyms and other perks out of step with hybrid working?

by Anthony Thompson • Comment, Wellbeing

It should go without saying that looking after employee mental health and wellbeing is important. If employers do not prioritise employee wellbeing, the whole team can feel the impact of this. There is compelling evidence that suggests strong employee wellbeing is a precursor to a more resilient workforce, which enjoys better staff retention, engagement and productivity, as well as reduced absenteeism. More →

May 24, 2023

Casala launches Omega – a new but classically beautiful chair with outstanding environmental credentials

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Furniture

Sustainable office design pioneer Casala has added to its portfolio of ground-breaking products with the launch of the Omega range of seating. Omega is a stylish and comfortable seating range, unmistakeable thanks to its slender shell made from recycled PET felt, combined with a lightweight steel frame. The diversity of the product family makes Omega a multifunctional all-rounder for the office, receptions, hospitality and break out spaces. More →