The upcoming Workspace Design Show in London, scheduled for 27 – 28 February, will be packed with insights and innovations on workplace interiors. Among the many speakers scheduled to attend is Collin Burry, Principal at Gensler. This article will delve into Burry’s forward-thinking ideas and the design trends he foresees for 2024, offering a glimpse into how workspaces can evolve to be more experiential, responsible, and inclusive in the years to come.
Our theme this year is ‘Bloom: exploring the thriving ecosystem of work life.’ How do you see offices ‘blooming’ in current times?
Corporate design and corporate looking offices are dead, even calling it an office is probably a misnomer. The Workplace creation community has a huge opportunity and responsibility to embrace the change and lean into designing spaces that support the merger of how we live and work today. Together we can “Bloom” into a new archetype of space that brings people together, builds community, creates a sense of belonging, includes EVERYONE and enables the user to thrive – all done in a manner that is healthy for people and the planet.
What design trends do you see for 2024 that will create workplaces that people want to be?
The adage of the mid-Twentieth Century was form follows function. The adage for the latter part of the Twentieth Century was form follows purpose. The adage today is form follows experience, form follows responsibility, form follows inclusion. Workplaces that stimulate, are varied, are imperfect, that truly support the needs of the individual and collective users for hybrid work/life are the future. Designers need to embrace imperfection in a world that is responsible to the planet. We lead the way, as creatives, we always have. Now is our time to show the world a path forward and we will do it TOGETHER.