The Evolution of a Workplace
From cubicles to cocktails, how is the changing concept of work altering the design of our workplaces?
The notion of a workplace is ever-evolving. It was as early as 1980 that predictions were made that the rise of personal computing would lead to the coined term “electronic cottage”, or workers working from home instead of the office. It was also not too long ago that cubicles were deemed to be the workplace standard, with privacy and clear hierarchical divides valued over interconnectivity and openness. As the notion of a workplace grew to be more and more integrative, went away the cubicle walls to give way to shared desks and different modes of communicating and brainstorming. Workplaces became more open and transparent; face-to-face interaction, whether in person or via different modes of technology, elevated interactivity possibilities to new heights.
With the rise of the start-up culture, sharing and communication, not only internally within a company but also externally with other disciplines and companies, coworking spaces have emerged from being considered as one-off peculiarities to commonplace occurrences. Now that knowledge-sharing and interdisciplinary learning have become necessities for survival and growth in the ever-changing and fast-paced global context, coworking spaces and their design are branching out and evolving hand-in-hand to reflect the changing sentiments.
Enter the next chapter in the evolution of a workspace — members-only collaborative clubs that, in their design typology, take cues from coworking spaces and country clubs, albeit more resourceful than the former and more inclusive than the latter. And while Google may have pioneered work-play integration and gimmicky interiors on a large-scale corporate level, members-only clubs are implementing design solutions within their spaces in more purposeful ways to cater to their members. Integrative spaces that mix work and play within its multi-functional interiors, members-only collaborative workplaces stand apart from their predecessors with their immaculate attention to details and carefully curated rosters of events and activities that foster creativity and exchange of ideas among the members.
The phrase ‘members-only’ may still come with a certain connotation of snobbishness but the new-age collaborative workplaces are shedding the misconceptions by fostering inclusivity in a response to the changing nature of a work. As mobile technology now enables productivity from anywhere and everywhere, the boundary between work and play, and the balance of both, has become a blurred line. Thus, members-only clubs, like Soho House with clubs across North America and Europe or Kafnu with properties in Asia and India, offer lifestyle-centred solutions where work and play are no longer mutually exclusive, delivering environments conducive to mixing work and entertainment and connecting its members — entrepreneurs and trailblazers, small businesses and start-ups — with one another.
Design plays a crucial part in attracting and retaining members in these members-only environments. After all, the success of these clubs really depends on how effectively their spaces can respond and cater to the lifestyles of their members. In turn, design solutions aim to integrate lifestyle demands of the clubs’ entrepreneurial members for whom, often, work and play come hand in hand and are interchangeable in their nature. This also extends to other areas of an all-inclusive approach: dining, wellness, networking environments are all considered holistically in relation to one another. In this respect, a designer of a members-only club also plays a role of a psychologist, a decorator, a party planner, a wellness guru — a modern day jack-of-all trades to form a hybridised workplace typology for its target customer.
To draw people into their spaces, members-only clubs are emerging with practical offerings in response to the demands of integrative lifestyles of modern day professionals and entrepreneurs, where every aspect of work and play is carefully considered through a design lens to spark new ideas. There is nothing worse than a feeling where workplace interactions feel forced and contrived, where interactions are stifled by a haphazard or ill-conceived spatial layout. At the end of the day, a mindfully-designed workplace facilitates organically generated connections and bursts of creative genius and that is something no membership can buy.
