Designing the office of the future plus a revolution in architecture

BLOG from Howard Chapman, Editor of Buildingtalk

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Feedback from my visit to Clerkenwell Design Week that included a live online interview about the Office of the Future plus a tour around the Zara Hadid Design studio to see how she has created a revolution in architecture.

About Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell is a remarkable area in London. It is home to more architects and interiors designers, per square mile, than any other place on the planet.

Its history includes being home to a large community of French Huguenots including many artisans who were part of the 900k who fled religious persecution 300 years ago. Their talent continues to enrich the area. London is also home to new creative talent from around the world, swelled recently by another generation of young entrepreneurs and professionals from France, some fleeing economic persecution by Franois Hollande, the current French President. London is now said to be the 6^th biggest city of France, with more French people living in London than in Bordeaux!

Clerkenwell is just part of a wider regeneration of London that includes new business hubs around Old Street andamp; Kings Cross, now home to technology giants such as Facebook andamp; Google, plus the Olympic park developments and ongoing Docklands area expansion.

About Clerkenwell Design Week (CDW)

CDW is Britains top design festival. It is an opportunity to gain access to the workshops and offices of businesses in the area as they play host to a range of events in 4 main venues and 85 showrooms.

Buildingtalk at the Vault

During Clerkenwell Design Week, Buildingtalk visited The Vault, one of the CDW showroom venues, home to 10 interiors specialist companies. The Vault opened its doors during CDW to demonstrate a range interior design products and to host events including a talk by

Wheelerkanik on the impact of the Millennial Generation on interior workplace design.

This was followed by a Buildingtalk interview with Grant Kanik talking about what the office of the future will look like. The interview was streamed live via Periscope, the new online broadcasting technology promoted by Twitter.

The Office of the Future

Grant Kanik spoke about how the Millennial Generation (the young people born after 1985) will dominate the workforce and are demanding a different interior workplace design that enhances collaboration, communication and inspiration, creating a more productive environment.

Technology is also blurring the distinction between home and office as Millennials use both environments as workspaces.

Grant explained how interior office design needs to provide quirky, informal and attractive spaces if companies want to attract and retain entrepreneurial creative talent.

The office of the future will provide a seamless link to home and other workplaces to enable practical collaboration andamp; networking.

For the past 200 years the office has essential remained unchanged a desk, a chair, a place for the days work. But now it is different with the internet offering total communication and connection.

Personal time and work time boundaries are becoming blurred. The businesses of the future will need less office space but it will need to be able to offer flexible use, especially to facilitate meetings and collaboration in a virtual world.

Visit To Zara Hadid Studio

Zaha Hadid Design hosted a guided tour of their gallery, presenting a special display of design objects by Alessi, as well as design pieces and architecture models by Zaha Hadid Architects. For me it was a great opportunity to lean more about Zaha Hadid and the process of design through various 3D models on show.

Zaha Hadid has provided a unique revolutionary perspective on urbanism, architecture and design for more than 30 years. She received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004, the first woman to do, and the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011.

The images demonstrate what a genius she is.

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Interior specialists at THE VAULT

Atkinson Contract Services

Atkinson Contract Services is a major value added service provider to property and facilities managers, hotels, office solutions manufacturers and direct end user clients. The services include installation of office furniture; commercial removals/relocation; logistics andamp; storage; archiving, security shredding, clearance, facilities management; reuse and recycle of redundant office furniture andamp; partitioning. ACS also offer specification and procurement of partitioning, furniture and seating ranges, as well as management of design and build projects.

Balma UK

Balma are one of Polands leading office furniture manufacturers offering a comprehensive range of products including executive furniture, reception counters and competitively priced commercial furniture.

CE Solutions

CE Solutions provide sustainably built, quality movable acoustic wall and sliding folding partition systems for offices, hotels, churches, schools and colleges, and for commercial, retail and residential developments.

Decca Contract

Already well established in the UK Residential and Hospitality sectors, Deccas bespoke furniture manufacturing offers a level of quality that cannot be achieved by using mass-produced components.

Forza Doors

Forza Doors are specialists in the preparation of wood veneers and timber utilisedin the production of doors, frames, panels and screens for usein the commercial interior construction market, encompassing office, education, health, hotel and retail.

Imagine Hospitality

Imagine is a specialist manufacturer and interior furnishing supplier to the Hospitality Sector having more than 30 years of experience in FFE and Fit-out work on prestigious projects.

James Tobias

James Tobias provide organisations with optimum storage solutions and is the UKs leading StorageWall manufacturer.

Leyform

Leyform manufactures leather executive chairsfor office and home, operational andtask chairs,stoolsfor bars and home use,stackable tablesand chairsfor auditoriums and lecture hall seating,sofas for waiting areas, conference.

Contact for more details

Email: Jo McCauseland joannem@atkinsongroup.co.uk, call +44 (0) 207 566 0446 or visit the Atkinson Contract Services website