Life in Western society – exported all over the world – depends, at least for a good part of an individual’s existence, on the alternation of work and leisure: a central element that has shaped cities and the way we experience them. With COVID, this system has potentially been unhinged: research conducted in Italy by Comin & Partners in April 2020 showed that 37 percent of respondents were willing to give up part of their salary to continue working from home (source: Fortune Italy). One of the furniture industry’s leading trade fairs, Orgatec (Cologne, October 22-25), is all about workplaces and their evolution.
The key words today, also in the light of the pandemic experience, are “holistic”, “interdisciplinary” and “flexible”. These are the characteristics that have been identified to improve the efficiency of workplaces. And they naturally translate into the way they are designed. At the furniture level, for example, there is a growing focus on all common areas (including outdoor, which is considered a real plus). And for elements of high design, which alone can communicate the tone of the company: a signature piece translates into the perception of a deep and structured corporate culture.
There is also talk of luxury, which translates into light, volumes, materials and finishes of great value (as in the Andromeda collection designed by the American studio LSM and presented at Milan Design Week 2024 by Unifor, not surprisingly also available for residential use). “Companies now demand spaces that not only look extraordinary, but also improve productivity and well-being,” said Steven Blaess of London-based developer Clivedale during a conference on the subject organized by Lualdi during the London Design Festival in September. At the same time, there is a polarization: while areas of representation are growing, those dedicated to daily work are often shrinking, with the fixed workstation often abolished in favor of more fluid modes thanks to increasingly portable technologies.
All of this brings to mind rank experiments, from Frank Lloyd Wright’s SC Johnson to Oscar Niemeyer’s Mondadori (where I worked and where it was exciting to walk in every morning). The most daring was that of Jay Chiat, who commissioned Gaetano Pesce to create a “total environment” for the New York headquarters of the Chiat/Day advertising agency. It was 1994, and the images of these spaces went around the world. For those who worked there, however, all this exuberance was a distraction, so they were dismantled in favor of more anonymous furnishings. All the pieces Pesce designed, including the doors, have since found their way into the marketplace: galleries, auction houses. The workplace should be inspiring. But not too inspiring.
