ABSTRACT

Parallel with the shift towards collaborative and open working, there has been a focus on flexibility in office design in recent years. New, more flexible ways of working have had a devastating effect on traditional occupancy rates in offices. DEGW's Frank Duffy has published widely on what he describes as a third wave of office design, in specific response to the fluctuations of the knowledge economy. He calls this wave the 'networked office'. However the 'brandscapes' in networked offices are more temporary and transient more like stage sets in keeping with the constant morphing of contemporary business practice. In many cases, provision of workspace is becoming more imaginatively intertwined with retail, industrial, residential and mixed-use property. But while knowledge workers have had every conceivable novelty thrust in their direction in the corporate workplace, there is very little hard evidence to suggest that elaborate metaphors or playful gadgets make a quantifiable difference to productivity.