With the emergence of shifting values and major technological innovation, we are experiencing a massive shift in the working behaviors of knowledge workers. Changing spatial organizing techniques have caused knowledge work to be simultaneously dispersed and collaborative. Concepts that have been clearly distinguishable in the past such as the collective and individual are blending together, challenging the relationship between the public realm and the private workspace.
Advancements in technology will eliminate the office as a static typology. In 2020, work will be everywhere except the traditional office. The fundamental notion of work will shift and we will see an unprecedented blending of leisure and labor. The new regime of mobile work will give workers a high level of agility and the need for flexible work environments will be greater than ever. The more workers communicate in virtual spaces, the more they will seek a new corporeality. Workers will continuously seek out new workspaces by the experiences that are provided as well as proximity to other creative professionals.
Privately-owned public open spaces (POPOS) have multiplied in recent years and will continue to increase as new development takes place. Taking the form of plazas, pocket parks, rooftop gardens, and corporate atriums, these resources are seldom taken advantage of by the digital nomad. As workers are increasingly vindicated from their traditional office desks, POPOS will serve as prime spaces to work and meet.
Our design presents these in-between spaces of the city as an integral network of ‘productive commonspaces’, in which the worker becomes both a spectator and participant. The unexpected turns into a source of inspiration and the traditional sense of spatial ownership no longer exists. The network of sites offers a variety of scale, type, and organization allowing workers to seek out workspaces depending on their desires for light, sound, privacy, etc.
CREDITS
Garrett Ryan Miller
in collaboration with Blake Hudelson and Cesar Lopez
Metropolis Cometition, 2013
Garrett Ryan Miller
in collaboration with Blake Hudelson and Cesar Lopez
Metropolis Cometition, 2013