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The Forum: How we work: Redesigning the office

Modern coworking office interior

02/02/2023 GMT

How we work: Redesigning the office

BBC World Service - The Forum, How we work: Redesigning the office

The concept of the office is being reimagined. What can we learn from its history?

What are offices for? We are delving back into the history of the modern office to learn how ways of thinking about design in the past could help us in future.

The pandemic has made us all rethink how we work. Where once millions of people used to travel into work in tall glass buildings in big cities every day, now our idea of the office has come to include the kitchen table or maybe even a coffee shop. Yet despite the temptation to shift permanently to remote working, many organisations say the events of the past few years have actually underlined the importance of offices as spaces that connect people. So what are offices for? We are delving back into the history of the modern office to learn how past designs could help us in the future. 

Presenter Rajan Datar is joined by three guest experts:

Nigel Oseland is an environmental psychologist and consultant at Workplace Unlimited in the UK. He's the author of Beyond the Workplace Zoo: Humanising the Office.

Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler is Associate Professor of Design History at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She's the author of Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office.

And Agustin Chevez is a workplace researcher and architect, and Adjunct Research Fellow at the Centre for Design Innovation at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. He's the author of The Pilgrim's Guide to the Workplace.

Producer: Jo Impey

(Photo: Modern coworking interior with an open-plan office lounge and plants; Credit: ExperienceInteriors/Getty Images)

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