Love That Design hosted an industry roundtable at the Cosentino showroom in Dubai’s Design District, inviting local and international experts from the A+D sector. The topic of discussion was  the latest shift in workplaces from traditional, fixed desk layouts, to more fluid, mobile and agile offices, and whether or not this style of working actually ‘works’ for everyone.

What followed was an exhaustive conversation on ergonomics and its importance in design and products, the pros and cons of an agile office, and the effect on employee health, positivity and productivity, as well as the bottom line. Here is an edited transcript and summary of the discussion.

Clockwise from top left: Andreas Krob, Founder of b4k and designer of Interstuhl’s PUREis3 task chair, Chris Barnes, Founder and Managing Director, Broadway Interiors, Tim Garret, Ergonomist, Corporate Wellness Co, Abeer Zaidi, FF&E Designer, SBID, Ali Lalehparvar, Head of Facility Management MENA & Turkey, BASF.

Offices today look completely different from a decade ago, and with good reason too. It’s not just the advancement in technology that didn’t exist then, there are now entirely new roles and job descriptions too. Jobs that demand new modes of working, for people that require a greater degree of flexibility in their work environment.

This shift in roles and ways of working gave birth to the new agile workspaces – environments that are designed to be flexible and balanced, supporting all forms of work and even play. These spaces promote collaboration, foster engagement, and allow for both focused work and socialising.

Understanding Agile Spaces 

Agile workspaces sound great in theory, but we know that there’s no one size fits all. However there are common needs and themes driving this movement. As with any advancement in technology comes a shift in culture and behaviour, which then pushes designers to re-evaluate and re-think new design blueprints.

“The research and science that’s driven task seating and other ergonomic products have jumped leaps and bounds in the past decade. But enter any modern workspace today, and you won’t be surprised to find pouffes or even a swing placed in between workstations. Where’s the research or ergonomics behind designs like that?” asks Chris.

The point he makes is thought provoking, for he is pushing a need to learn and understand the ergonomics of these new spaces. Environments where a heterogeneous mix of furniture is more common than the cookie-cutter design of rows of desks and chairs. Nowadays, in some organisational roles, all you need is a smart phone, as workers are always on the move, which brings about the need to be able to work anywhere.

“We also have to compare and understand the dynamics of the space, as workplaces are more inclusive now and the boundaries between departments are disappearing,” adds Andreas. “We then evaluate the furniture’s ability to support the workers.” As a product designer, he advocates for reducing the complexity of new products to balance the fast dynamics of today’s work culture. And it makes sense. The point behind agile spaces is to be flexible and seamless. The furniture that brings these spaces to life needs to be aligned with these goals.

“The perfect ergonomic product requires almost no adjustment; it should work for you, not the other way around, and the perfect position should be at point zero”

– Andreas Krob, Founder and Designer at b4k

“I remember 20 years ago, office chairs had five levers and buttons just for the seat pad!” he exclaims. “The perfect ergonomic product requires almost no adjustment; it should work for you, not the other way around, and the perfect position should be at point zero. Especially now that shared desks are increasing in popularity, it is necessary that the chair be instantly adaptable. This can save time and encourage better ergonomic seating.”  

Understanding agile spaces also means understanding the furniture and technology that make the space agile. In Tim’s experience as a corporate ergonomics expert, most people don’t even know how great their chair is, what it can do, or how it even works. “We’ve surveyed the region, and believe it not, 96 percent of the people were not aware of all the features of their chair,” he says. Chris explains why this happens. “Knowledge of the product’s value gets diluted by the time it reaches the actual person using it,” he says, suggesting that designers and decision makers make it a point to educate everyone in the supply chain.

Putting the human in human-centered design

With all this talk of designing optimised spaces, quite often we forget about the people actually using them. Designers are pressed to deliver against tight deadlines and within budget, leaving aside the sanity check of whether the design makes sense or not to the end user.

As someone with considerable experience in the matter, Ali provides the client’s viewpoint. “For an organisation, the end goals are always measured with regards to financial metrics,” he says. “You’re always looking to either save or make money, and it’s easy to forget that there are humans involved too.” He further explains that employees spend much more ‘awake’ time in the office, which then becomes their first home.

But what about the change from traditional to open plan. This must have some effect on employee behavior, and we wanted to know how large organisations like BASF react to such a shift.

“There is no complicated trick to getting the design right. All we have to do is involve all the stakeholders, including the end users – the employees”

– Abeer Zaidi, FF&E Designer, SBID

Ali describes the process wherein he and his team conduct a before and after survey, in regards to any major changes to the office environment. “The questions are simple, such as whether or not employees feel happier after the new design was implemented,” he says. So far, the responses have been positive. His team even engages in personal conversations with employees and the feedback has been great. So much so that when BASF held an employee family day event recently, employees were more than happy to being their families into their workspaces – a sign of pride and comfort in their new environments.

Chris also notes, “Ten to fifteen years ago, we couldn’t have had families in the offices. But today, because offices are being designed like homes, we can do that.” It’s a sign of changing times, and office environments becoming more human centered.

Abeer follows that with a reminder of the struggle designers face when it comes to educating the client. “We have to always take the time and effort to explain the effects of our design on employees. It always helps to present options, for that is when we see the change in client perception, and they are keener to embrace the agile environment,” she says. “There is no complicated trick to getting the design right. All we have to do is involve all the stakeholders, including the end users, the employees.”

The challenges faced in an agile environment

“There’s so much that can go wrong with an agile design. And I’m not just referring to the aesthetics,” says Tim. He mentions too many desks clustered together and poor acoustics from the exposed ceiling design that is so popular now.

And what of privacy? For example, someone using a large monitor, which may be a requirement for certain tasks, risks personal work being shown to everyone around, especially in an open plan layout.

“That is when you add personal or focus areas,” says Abeer. “Open plans are here to stay. But what we can do is be conscious and smart about the design. As designers, we have to include spaces for various touch points throughout the typical workday. Like when getting out of a meeting and having to shoot out a quick update. The workspace needs to facilitate those transitions smoothly.”

“For an organisation, the end goals are always measured with regards to financial metrics. You’re always looking to either save or make money, and it’s easy to forget that there are humans involved too.”

– Ali Lalehparvar, Head of Facility Management MENA & Turkey, BASF

Is becoming agile expensive?

This is the question on everyone’s mind. Good design is rarely cheap. So is the agile workspace design within reach for the average client, or destined only for large organisations or elite companies with deep pockets?

“There’s definitely a cost element to it,” says Andreas. “You’ll never get the cheapest solution being the most agile. But that’s the case with most products and services. How often is the cheapest the best?” Although, he does further state that it is possible to remain within budget. “We can avoid expensive overheads by working with everyone responsible for the design’s success early on. Identify what we can and cannot do, and then prioritise. Working with a diverse set of people takes the guesswork out of the process, which avoids unpleasant surprises popping up later on,” he says.

“The quality of ergonomic products are improving each year, and that quality is becoming industry standard,” says Chris. “Once it becomes the norm, you will see a reduction in cost owing to a large availability of choice.” He further adds how manufacturers like Interstuhl are trying to get ahead of the curve by designing products like the PUREis3, ahead of time, and not waiting for it to become the norm. So when it does, he expects clients to turn to Interstuhl as thought leaders and experts in the field of designing agile spaces.

The new ergonomic checklist

So have the ergonomic needs changed for the modern day office worker?

“The basics still remain – seating comfort, lighting and acoustics,” confirms Tims. “The task chair, however, will always be important.”

Abeer reminds us of a generational shift in today’s workforce. “We have to think of the millennial population that dominates the workforce today,” she says. She points out that several major hotel brands, for example, are designing their spaces and environments to cater to the new generation.

Andreas suggests we design environments based on the mobile first culture that is becoming the norm now. “Twenty years ago, we didn’t have smartphones,” he says. “Today, they’re ubiquitous and a defining element of our culture.” Furniture designs are increasingly moving towards forms that embrace these digital tools.

“We shun the smartphone as a distraction, but really, we should be thinking of ways to turn it into a force for good. Why not use it to provide employees with key information, like whether their posture is correct or if they’ve been sitting too long”

– Chris Barnes, Founder and Managing Director, Broadway Interiors

“We shun the smartphone as a distraction, but really, we should be thinking of ways to turn it into a force for good,” says Chris. He makes a good case for smartphones as an ergonomic accessory. “Why not use it to provide employees with key information, like whether their posture is correct or if they’ve been sitting too long”.

Balance is a key component of agile spaces. It’s easy to get carried away by focusing on the design too much, but the success of a truly agile workplace lies in placing people at its centre, with a solid understanding of their behaviour and the technology that is in use today.

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