Storeys Journal: Introducing a radical new workplace for humans

Launching Storeys Journal: a new inspirational publication for the design sector

In this collaborative project between ourselves and Tarkett, a new publication has been launched, titled: Storeys Journal. The first instalment, The Workplace Issue, explores multi-layered solutions to today’s built environment in response to challenges across health and wellbeing. This is brought together by inspiring stories from architects and designers to present a vision of the future workplace. 

We found that innovative A&Ds are not, as one might suspect, creating a future office that is automated, controlled by technology and artificial intelligence. Instead, the most interesting case studies we have discovered are office designs that respond to workers’ emotional, social, mental and physical needs.

What makes a human-centric workspace?                                      

Through this research we identified three vital facets to creating a more human-centred workplace. It must be:

• Convivial - enabling the creation of culture and community through the positive collision of people and ideas. Companies like Vitsœ and Space 10, for example, foster innovative work cultures by embracing serendipity in their office designs, using architecture to designate space for interaction and experimentation, and enabling positive collisions between their people and teams.
• Fluid - adapting seamlessly to the changing needs of a workforce which is increasingly diverse in terms of gender, age, lifestyle and job. Designers such as Form Us With Love are creating simple, dynamic furniture with non-prescriptive forms that afford many uses.
• Nourishing - nurturing the mind, body and spirit of workers to promote their holistic health and happiness. Architects such as Equipo de Arquitectura in Paraguay are one such firm transforming how we physically share our spaces with nature. In a recent project, the team has brought the forest inside, incorporating two mature trees into their office design.

While these ideas are not radical in themselves, when considered together, we believe they can inform and inspire the aspirations and objectives of every workspace: to realise the human potential of each employee and achieve true impact.

Joolz Headquarters, Amsterdam. Photography by Peter Tijhuis.

Bringing Rethinking Workplace to life

Storeys Journal continues The Great Indoors’ ongoing research project, Rethinking Workplace, which explores how people across the globe are responding to their current workspaces. Tarkett itself is known for its forward-looking research and its focus on an environmentally conscious future – the very values that The Great Indoors was built on – and passions that FranklinTill too shares.

We have never believed in fly-by-night seasonal trends; we seek big ideas and innovations that can help drive change for a better future.

Our work at FranklinTill is grounded in meticulous research that informs the creative aspect of our practice. On the macro level, we pull together the latest sociocultural, scientific and technical evidence to gain an effective overview of current movements in design thinking and practice. We then identify the designers, manufacturers, innovators and makers who are bringing these ideas to life, bringing emerging aesthetic and design directions to the fore.

Through Storeys Journal, together with The Great Indoors, we hope to inspire and inform, to help you create long-term ideas in line with future consumer behaviour and design movements.

To download the Storeys Journal and receive inspiration and practical advice, please fill in the form.