12/12/2023

The Office is About to Enter its Experimental Phase

After so much post-COVID handwringing, offices are about to get interesting again

In the years since the pandemic’s onset, the office has remained the lingering unanswered question. If and when the office would be needed is still unclear for many companies, and top minds are still figuring out how to design an office to which workers actually want to return. Office buildings themselves are in existential crisis, with many on the verge of obsolescence and cities scrambling to find something to take their place. It’s been a challenging few years for offices writ large, which has left many in the design and commercial real estate business struggling to roll with the punches.

In 2024, designers and developers will start to be less reactive to uncertainty and more proactive about how they can reframe the situation. That’s one of the main takeaways from the 2024 Design Forecast from Gensler, the global architecture and design firm. The report calls out eight major trends it sees taking shape over the next year, plus dozens of sub-trends that are specific to certain types of buildings. Some of the big trends include growth in multigenerational developments, a more diverse array of offerings in suddenly business-light central business districts, and an embrace of AI and emerging design tools.

As one of the world’s biggest and busiest design companies, with 53 offices around the world and hundreds of projects currently underway, Gensler is well positioned to prognosticate on the direction architecture is headed. And with plenty of office projects now in the works, the company also can make a very educated guess about where the workplace is going.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.