Integrating life with work
Designers creating new types of spaces that inspire and invigorate
By Susan Pantaleo, ASID -- Furniture Today, July 21, 2008
The spaces we work in are slowly evolving into places where our career and the rest of our life can merge.
Demands from all facets of life require workers to adapt in order to survive. The focus on personal identity that started with the Baby Boomers and expanded with their children, the Me Generation, gave rise to the idea that work should go beyond duty and turn into a satisfying extension of the self.
With all these factors in play, we are moving in a direction that will make working and living more compatible. And this will change the way we look at the office in the future. Formal office spaces will become more comfortable, and the new home offices will share space with active areas in the home.
The last significant change in the work environment came with the popularity of the Fluid Workspace, where workers could reconfigure their walls and furniture to support the activities scheduled for the day.
Now telecommuting is so common that the Fluid Workspace reaches past the office walls and into the home. According to statistics by the U. S. Department of Labor, on any given work day last year, 20% of those employed did all or some of their work from home.
Employers are being more flexible because they can maintain talent and save on expensive office space. For example, many new moms are being encouraged to work from home, and 18.3 million people are continuing to work instead of retiring at the age of 65. According to AARP's director of workforce, Deborah Russell, “People are working longer, but on their own terms.”
And that seems to be the key — providing spaces that allow the worker to be in control and create a free flow between work and life.
Steelcase, one of the country's largest contract furniture companies, has embraced this concept and launched a new subsidiary, Coalesse, with a philosophy called Live Work. Coalesse is devoted to furniture pieces that bring more home into the office, and more office into the home. In doing so, the company hopes to redefine how we work and provide spaces that will inspire and invigorate both settings.
An easy flow between work and life can be supported by these furniture-related suggestions:
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Chairs, carts and files with wheels make it possible to bring them wherever you want to set up work for the day.
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Use decorative storage pieces to house technology; with wireless connections everything can be tucked stylishly away until needed.
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Provide one task chair and several comfortable places for discussion or contemplation.
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Desks or tables that can serve as a conference table or work surface are especially useful if they are lightweight for moving.
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High-back chairs or tall cabinetry can act as dividers to create a feeling of privacy and reduce distractions.
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New age upholstery fabrics offer amazing durability and also feel soft to the touch.
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Wood tones on furniture and accents lend an air of homey comfort.
Picture this: You are working with your wireless keyboard on your comfortable sofa, using the flat screen as your monitor when the family rushes in. Just hit “save” and flow back to life.
You can talk to Susan by clicking on Behind the Design on the www.furnituretoday.com home page, or at http://www.furnituretodayonline.com/BehindTheDesign/
