“Give me a formula!” This is a recurring request that is addressed to designers. Although there is not a single solution suitable for everyone, we tried to find one to frame the contemporary challenges in the seminar “Rethinking the future of the workplace“ organized by the Portuguese University IADE, where we were invited to share new visions. The result was E = mc^4, a framework that brings together energy, movement, communication and collaboration for designing the infrastructure of the new ways of working.
Looking at the hybrid work we lived during the pandemic, we immediately realize that the future of the ways of working cannot be limited only to the office space. From the design of a place, it is necessary to move towards the design of infrastructure. In fact, the office is only one of the nodes of a network that includes our houses, co-workings and all the “non-places” where we work, namely those spaces that have not been originally designed to work.
They are phygital spaces where we experiment a new kind of asynchronous and ubiquitous form of communication everyday, and where the exchange of data and information between people, objects and environments constitutes a new background for the action.
How to move within these changes? Taking inspiration from Einstein’s famous formula, E = mc^4 is not a mathematical formula, but it wants to be a guide to think about dimensions that constitute the core of the new ways of working.
E = Energy and Engagement.
What gives people energy? A system works only if it has energy, and the energy depends on how engaged the people are and how much they believe in the values of the corporate culture. A working infrastructure must keep up the energy and people’s engagement even when they work far away from the headquarters.
M = movement.
Who and what is moving? A new type of movement will increasingly characterize the world of future work. It is a centrifugal movement, linked to individual choices, but capable of generating new ideas, connections and attracting different skills and individuals.
C = communication / collaboration.
How to build effective communication and cooperation? The ability to communicate and collaborate at different distances and in different forms will be fundamental. From the flexibility of the office space, we need to move on towards the flexibility of the infrastructure, which must be able to support and encourage new ways of working together from different spaces but also at different times.
There are 4 dimensions to consider regarding communication/collaboration:
1. Real / Digital
2. Inside/Outside the office
3. Between different teams
4. Diversity (cross-cultural, cross-generational, …)
Finally, the office becomes a hub from which people gather and then take different directions, and the employment journey must be designed throughout the infrastructure.
The digital world not only becomes the tool that allows new ways of working to take place but also provides an interesting ispiration: digital design’s concepts (such as “user-friendly”, “user experience”, “networking”, “responsive”) can be new hints for architects and designers to shape spaces and infrastructures that respond to new dynamics, questions and needs.
Text by Gabriele Masi.
