NEW WORK
Smart Working

Alexander Russ: You are Co-Head of Workplace Design at Zaha Hadid Architects and your main focus is on New Work and smart working environments. Can you tell us more about that?

Ulrich Blum: We set up the Workplace Design section at Zaha Hadid Architects in 2015 because we had come to realize that working environments are undergoing dramatic changes. This was accompanied by the idea of improving office planning by using certain technical tools such as parametric design. The architecture of Zaha Hadid Architects is characterized by flowing spatial transitions. You can view the series of spaces as a spatial network that allows for better collaboration amongst employees. This then ties in with topics such as flexibility and connectivity, which are becoming increasingly important in today’s working world.

In this context you have identified various “workplace trends”. Can you explain them and tell us how they shape the planning of working environments?

Ulrich Blum: One trend is “From Me Space to We Space”. This means that workplaces are designed so that they work not just for a single individual but for an entire team. Collaboration through Connectivity” is about spatial connections that enable employees to work together in the best possible way. Spaces should be curated in such a way that people can meet “by chance” in order to share ideas and experiences. Another trend is “Visibility and Transparency” – in other words this is about designing the visual interaction between employees such that they can collaborate as well as possible. This creates a sense of community that isn’t going to happen if you sit alone in an office cubicle. The trend “Companies are Eembracing Co-Working” takes up the coworking concept as a direct alternative to formal corporate office architecture. There are many different ways of working that encourage people to interact. In addition, there are events and an informal working environment that people enjoy spending time in. “The Right to Light“ addresses the ideal use of daylight. And it ensures that every employee can look out of a window. This often results in conflicting goals because the topic of connectivity requires deep floor plans while in providing daylight for everyone it is important for people to be located close to the facade. This is something that as an architect you have to reconcile in the design process.

What other trends are there?

Ulrich Blum: The “Spatial Flexibility” trend which addresses the importance of ensuring spaces can be adapted to suit changing needs. After all, there are always going to be changes at work so you should consider office space as something that is subject to constant evolution. Furniture systems that can be easily configured play an important role in this context as they enable working environments to be flexibly organized. However, often this flexibility is theoretical rather than practical because in reality rearranging furniture is a very complicated business. That said, today wi-fi is so fast that soon we won’t need cables any more for data transmission. Moreover, the batteries in electronic devices are getting better all the time. Architects should exploit the greater freedom this creates to design new flexible office spaces. Another important trend goes by the name “Natural Environments” and involves integrating plants into working environments. And natural materials like wood are popular. In short, offices are becoming more homely.

Can you explain in greater detail how at Zaha Hadid Architects you approach the design process for these new working environments?

Ulrich Blum: One important aspect in office buildings is the location of the elevator shaft and as an architect you have to consider very carefully where ideally to place it. Is it best close to the facade or in the middle of the office space as is often the case in high-rise buildings? We have found specific answers to these questions, offering individual solutions for each project. Our research also revealed that generous floor plans which are horizontally organized function superbly for working environments. And we call the typology that has developed from this idea a “groundscraper”, because it’s the opposite of a skyscraper.

Is there currently a project at Zaha Hadid Architects that was designed according to these principles?

Ulrich Blum: Yes, the Infinitus Plaza HQ in Guangzhou, China. The client is a large pharmaceuticals manufacturer and the brief was to use the architecture itself to foster better collaboration among employees. The building site made up of two large plots separated from one another by a wide urban thoroughfare. Now bridges connect the respective building sections on each side. Given the size of the plots we were also able to incorporate four atriums. Now the whole thing is a large spatial network with a variety of flexible connections.

How is this flexibility achieved?

Ulrich Blum: By having enough space that can be extended in all directions. What you often get is a situation where one or more division in a company grows, which makes a new configuration necessary. That is no problem at all with our approach. Incidentally, we not only designed the Infinitus HQ building but also the specific working environment.

At the start you mentioned that working environments are undergoing big changes. One reason for this has to do with the switch from the so-called boomer generation to the millennials – in other words people born between 1946 to 1964 to those born between 1980 and 1999. How does that influence the planning of office spaces?

Ulrich Blum: One difference is that often employees do not feel such a strong bond with their company. Years ago it was common for people to spend their entire professional life working for the same company. Then that changed to people having four to five jobs during their career. Now, however, you come across people who have four to five jobs at the same time. The consequence is that you no longer associate your work with a company so much as with a project. This means that a company’s corporate identity only plays a minor role for employees, if at all. Instead, the working environment that a company provides is becoming increasingly important. People no longer want to make a special journey to the office if all that they get there is a desk in an office cubicle. So working environments must be adapted to create a certain diversity and permit different ways of working.

Working from home has now become a firmly established practice. One consequence of this is that the demand for office spaces is falling. Or how do you see the situation?

Ulrich Blum: I’m not so sure about that, especially when I think about the Zaha Hadid Architects office during the pandemic. Back then, all the staff transitioned to remote working – from one day to the next. That worked really well and the question even cropped up as to whether we actually need more office space. But then we used the time during the pandemic to re-imagine our offices as meeting places. Since then it is left to our staff to decide whether they want to work at home or in the office – and in actual fact some employees do make use of this option. However, at the same time I see that the office is still important, especially when you consider the team structures. Working in a team also functions if people are working remotely but you find that these teams tend to become isolated. One reason for that is the lack of social structures. You are no longer able to socialize face to face with other staff members. A classic example in this context is the chat at the coffee maker. That is not possible if you work from home. So it’s important that office spaces increasingly become places where you can socialize.

Often such casual meetings at the kitchenette are important for creative brainstorming. So it’s interesting to consider whether this creative potential is lost through people working from home.

Ulrich Blum: You need inspiring places and diversity for innovation. But what you definitely don’t need are the office cubicles that make up a large portion of the working space in Germany. The adjoining corridors are needed to satisfy fire protection regulations but they often make it difficult to transform such spatial structures into open office landscapes.

You are a Professor of Digital Design at Münster School of Architecture. What exactly do you teach there?

Ulrich Blum: As a Professor of Digital Design and Constructing I address digitization in the building sector. Architects are known to be somewhat loath to adopt new technologies and there is generally greater hesitancy in Germany. A good example of this is BIM (Building Information Modeling), whose introduction in Germany is lagging behind its use in Great Britain. Moreover, there are currently many technological advancements out there, say in the field of artificial intelligence. So as a professor of digital design I have to cover a great many topics at the same time. But as I see it there are two main areas of research that have emerged: firstly, 3D-printing for building and secondly relying on data to grow spaces. An example of the latter would be to improve office buildings by evaluating the experiences of the people that use them. This enables an architectural dialog with the employees. Another topic is how technology can be used to build more sustainably. After all, designing is still a highly intuitive process. That said, it has long been possible to incorporate climatic parameters into the design of a building. Consequently, you can develop buildings that respond ideally to their particular context. Put differently, architects have to learn to think much more in terms of systems and networks rather than designing individual objects.