Holograms, Haircuts and Micro-farming - School Pupils Propose Radical Ideas to Design Their Future Workplace

LONDON, December 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Norwegian furniture brand HÅG has commissioned a workshop with young Londoners to discover how Generation Z imagines their future workplace. Innovative ideas include hanging pods to work in, holograms on walls to change your working environment, interactive tablet desks which turn into beds, virtual reality rooms and communal vegetable allotments to provide ingredients for a healthy lunch. 

Four key themes emerged during the workshop which revealed how the young people felt about their future workplace - health, the environment, technology, and innovative workspaces. A clear trend was the continued blurring between personal and work life, while many of the pupils stressed the need for relaxation in the workplace. This involved creating an underground 'holiday room' which contained a beach and swimming pool, 'Netflix area' and holograms which could project a tranquil environment on the walls.

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The future office would have a health centre and gym - including a doctor's surgery where you could book appointments at work. Allotments would be provided where you could make your lunch from fresh produce and colleagues would have a 'Bake Off 'style kitchen to cook together.

The young people didn't share the current trend of shared workspaces but wanted a mix of collaborative areas combined with isolated working pods that they could customise for their own requirements and mood. When employees need to focus on their work in peace and quiet they would climb into their hanging pod where they would work alone on an interactive desk. They saw a high ceiling as wasted space and decided that these hanging pods could be placed there, creating more room for socialising and leisure.

Basma Elboussaki, 17, said: "It was a great experience - opening up your ideas. It was amazing to see how diverse our ideas were and how optimistic we are about the future. We want to include things you do at home - being active and energetic. We are concerned with nature and the environment - we are aware of how we should sustain our future."

The workshop was managed by Open-City (the charity responsible for the popular Open House architecture weekends), who invited the group of young people to take part in the workshop and be mentored by 8 leading architects.

Contacts:

Patrick Grier – patrick@ing-media.com tel: +44-(0)20-7247-8334

Serra Ataman – serra@ing-media.com tel: +44-(0)20-7247-8334

SOURCE HÅG