Metrospective The Office - London workplace

THE OFFICE - LONDON'S WORKPLACE 6 SEPTEMBER - 28 OCTOBER 2006

When the hard drive in your pocket carries more information than the average PC of just five years ago; when wi fi makes access to instant global information ubiquitous; when Blackberries keep you in touch with work while you’re sunbathing on the beach and you can carry out video conferencing with a couple of laptops – why do most people still travel into their office everyday? Why do we still need to meet our workmates face to face? What are offices really for? How should we design for the office of the present, let alone the future? These are some of the questions which will be investigated in “The Office - London's Workplace” an exhibition to be held during September and October 2006 in association with The British Council for Offices. It is estimated that about 30 per cent of the world’s top companies have adopted a mobile work style model, with 35 per cent having a workforce operating outside the boundaries of the office. Increasingly the office becomes a place for social and interactive engagement.The exhibition will look at the design and planning of a selection of new offices in London and at changes in technology in offices. These will be set in the context of video interviews with office designers, office users and theorists.

How is office work changing? Where should We be doing it? Is nine-to-five an outdated Concept in the age of the laptop, mobile Phone, blackberry®, bluetooth and wifi? Today, we can communicate and carry out Office tasks from the beach, starbucks Or under a tree in our local park. By all Accounts, the idea of staff converging on One office space at one time should be a Thing of the past, yet millions of workers Continue to do so.Technological, demographic, social, Environmental and security issues affect What our workspaces are like; they raise Questions about whether the demand for New office space will continue and how Developers should react to changing trends. This exhibition provides a glimpse into what Some innovative companies are doing today And where the new workplace of the future Is heading.

(Txt courtesy of www.newlondonarchitecture.org)