Workplace & Office Design

Before any plan: the office did not die, it changed its job; what good workplace design actually does for people and organisations; a short history of how we got here; and the workplace project and its players.

Design starts with people, not desks: how people actually work, culture and brand in space, listening to the organisation to write the brief, and measuring how space is really used.

Turning needs into a plan: space standards and densities, stacking and blocking across floors, adjacencies and the plan, and circulation, cores and efficiency.

Where the work happens: the workstation and ergonomics, open plan vs cellular and the ground between, the palette of work settings, and organising them into neighbourhoods.

Designing for together and alone: meeting rooms that work, collaboration and social space, focus, quiet and privacy, and the acoustic zoning that makes them coexist.

The spaces between the work: arrival and reception, the pantry and cafe as the heart of the office, wellness, prayer and parent rooms, and toilets, storage and back-of-house.

The invisible systems that make or break a workplace: lighting the workplace, acoustics and noise control, air, thermal comfort and indoor air quality, and biophilia and the human senses.

The biggest shift in a generation: hybrid work and what it means for space, activity-based working, desk sharing, booking and ratios, and the technology of the connected office.

Designing responsibly: designing for wellbeing, inclusive and accessible workplaces, neurodiversity and sensory design, and sustainable and healthy workplaces.

Making it real: materials, finishes and durability, furniture selection and specification, brand, graphics and wayfinding, and budget, procurement and value.

From drawings to a living workplace: delivering a workplace project, change management and moving in, post-occupancy and continuous improvement, and becoming a workplace designer.