- Offices may look drastically different after the pandemic because businesses will need to keep employee health and safety top of mind.
- The co-CEOs of the architecture firm Gensler drew a series of illustrations to depict the biggest ways offices may change post-pandemic.
- There may be increased space for virtual collaboration, like videoconferencing.
- And there may be more room between individual workstations.
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Offices may never look the same again.
Right now businesses around the world have their employees working remotely, in accordance with social-distancing practices that can help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
When these companies start reopening their offices, they'll likely have to make some drastic design changes to prevent employees from infecting each other en masse.
Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins, the co-CEOs of Gensler, one of the largest architecture firms, shared with Business Insider's Joe Williams a series of illustrations that depict what the office of the future might look like. For example, Cohen and Hoskins predict the rise of "officles," or a cross between a private office and a cubicle that allows for more distance between workers.
An April report from the office-furniture manufacturer Steelcase indicated many offices were built with employee safety in mind — but "the workplace was not designed to mitigate the spread of disease."
Hoskins told Williams that office design was already problematic, even before the pandemic hit. "We could already see massive cracks in the model and pushback around too much densification," Hoskins said. "You were already hearing issues around the maintenance and cleanliness of spaces."
Long-term interventions featured in the Steelcase report included adaptable workplaces that can accommodate more or less distancing, hands-free solutions, and increased videoconferencing to minimize business travel. An April report by CBRE, a commercial real estate services and investment firm, recommended that offices use easy-to-clean materials and antibacterial technology.
Read on to see the most significant ways offices may change when they reopen, according to Gensler.
