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Unworking - A Biophilic Reinvention of the Modern Office?
Biophilic design is not just an aesthetic choice, but a critical evolution in workplace design. As work becomes increasingly digital and flexible, the traditional office is transforming into a dynamic, nature-integrated environment. We speak with Jeremy Myerson, design writer and Professor Emeritus in the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art, who argues that the future workplace must move beyond sterile, industrial spaces to create settings that support human well-being, align with natural rhythms, and enhance productivity. This means incorporating elements like natural light, green spaces, vertical gardens, and designs that connect workers with the natural world. The post-pandemic workplace is no longer about containing workers, but about creating flexible, health-affirming spaces that recognize humans as part of a living ecosystem. Biophilic design, in Jeremy's vision, is the key to reimagining work as an holistic experience that nurtures both human potential and ecological connection.
He shares with us highlights from his recent book "Unworking," and traces the fascinating evolution of workplace design and champions biophilic principles as a critical solution to our modern work challenges.
The journey begins with agrarian societies, where work was intimately connected to nature - tasks performed on kitchen tables, in fields, and closely aligned with natural rhythms. The industrial revolution dramatically changed this relationship, creating artificial, efficiency-driven environments that systematically separated workers from the natural world. “We created an artificial internal environment in which to work, and the idea of technology, process and industrialisation was very much about conquering nature and resisting nature and separating nature from how we work. We pushed nature back at the end of the 19th century. We kept it at bay during the 20th century. And now we're beginning to think, well, actually, more natural ways of working, outdoor space, access to natural light and clean air, closeness to plants and greenery. All of this helps working life, but we're having to kind of put in a superhuman effort to try and bring back something that was naturally part of our existence. There's a certain irony in that there.”
Workplaces became sterile containers designed to maximize productivity, with little consideration for human well-being or natural connections.
Jeremy identifies three distinct phases of workplace evolution: the age of efficiency, the age of community, and the age of network. Each phase represents a gradual recognition that workers are not machines, but complex beings who thrive in more holistic environments.
Today, we're entering a transformative fourth phase where biophilic design isn't just a nice-to-have, but a fundamental requirement. Digital technologies have liberated work from fixed locations, allowing for more flexible, nature-integrated approaches.
For Jeremy, biophilic des
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago