With cloud computing, smart phones, video chat and more access to professional software for individual use, there shouldn’t really be any need to still go to an office for work, right? Well, legendary office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller would like to prove us wrong with its Living Office concept.
In a press release, Herman Miller Vice President Greg Parsons says that the Living Office aims to let office workers know "what the stage or recording studio offers to musicians- an environment optimized to inspire and enable people's ultimate performance”
Originally introduced in 2013 after years of research, the Herman Miller website now features a fully functioning, interactive Living Office Design Solutions guide on their website. Here are some reasons why the Living Office concept should get a second look:
1. Employees gain a sense of belonging
A Living Office lets employees (also known as human beings) work in a space that lets them be the social creatures they’re designed to be.
2. There’s a place for everyone, introverts and extroverts
Because everyone is unique and work better in different environments, a Living Office is one that has a spot for everyone to be their most productive, from the social butterflies to the hermits.
3. A living office is moldable according to type of work
Whether the office is a workspace for architects or editors, consultants or sales, the variety of landscapes allows the chance for optimal productivity.
Herman Miller Living Office from dress code on Vimeo.
4. It’s great for collaborating
Group work is inevitable in a work environment, and a Living Office allows transition between individual and group work to be as smooth and organic as possible.
5. Happy, comfortable employees equal prosperity
And that’s prosperity in both money and happiness!
Click here to learn more about the Living Office, and here for the Living Office design solution tool.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Healthcare
11. Operating Room-Integrated MRI will Help Neurosurgeons Get it Right the First Time A major limitation of traditional brain cancer surgery is the lack of scanning capability in the operating room. Neurosurgeons do their best to visually identify and remove the cancerous tissue, but only an MRI scan will confirm if the operation was a complete success or not.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Collaboration
9. HOK Takes Videoconferencing to A New Level with its Advanced Collaboration Rooms To help foster collaboration among its 2,212 employees while cutting travel time, expenses, and carbon emissions traveling between its 24 office locations, HOK is fitting out its major offices with prototype videoconferencing rooms that are like no other in the U.
| Aug 11, 2010
2009 Judging Panel
A Matthew H. Johnson, PE Associate Principal Simpson Gumpertz & HegerWaltham, Mass. B K. Nam Shiu, SE, PEVP Walker Restoration Consultants Elgin, Ill. C David P. Callan, PE, CEM, LEED APSVPEnvironmental Systems DesignChicago D Ken Osmun, PA, DBIA, LEED AP Group President, ConstructionWight & Company Darien, Ill.
| Aug 11, 2010
Inspiring Offices: Office Design That Drives Creativity
Office design has always been linked to productivity—how many workers can be reasonably squeezed into a given space—but why isn’t it more frequently linked to creativity? “In general, I don’t think enough people link the design of space to business outcome,” says Janice Linster, partner with the Minneapolis design firm Studio Hive.
| Aug 11, 2010
BIM school, green school: California's newest high-performance school
Nestled deep in the Napa Valley, the city of American Canyon is one of a number of new communities in Northern California that have experienced tremendous growth in the last five years. Located 42 miles northeast of San Francisco, American Canyon had a population of just over 9,000 in 2000; by 2008, that figure stood at 15,276, with 28% of the population under age 18.
