ABSTRACT
This chapter examines experiment in itself–an attempt to rethink key aspects of the productive workplace through an art and design lens. Making the workplace more productive is most commonly addressed from a technical perspective. Designers and artists operate in this more ambiguous terrain more comfortably than engineers or scientists; they are trained to handle ambiguity better and their expertise lends itself more easily to experimental and experiential thinking around the workplace. Some interventions were more successful than others, but the use of creative probes and artefacts to map and guide user behaviour in the workplace represented a novel addition to the research landscape. Much workplace design tends to focus on one at the expense of the other. The Welcoming Workplace study produced design guidance for architects and developers of office buildings, in association with the British Council for Offices. Rise of home working and rise of open plan working trends involved significant behavioural change.
