Category: Office

I just tripped over that cable for the third time today. I can see that someone has done their darnedest to gaffer tape it to the floor, but it’s still positioned in a way that’s far from ideal. It’s virtually impossible to avoid getting caught on the thing. It’s not really anyone’s fault: the only power point that cord can reach is nestled smugly in an awkward nook. Everyone agrees that the positioning doesn’t make any sense.

Truth be told, this office contains a number of features of this nature, most of them related to how technology is used in the space. My take is that the layout of power points and such was devised before anyone suspected that offices would be as technology-driven as they are today. Whether or not that’s the case, it doesn’t work and it needs to be fixed.

Seemingly, the stylistic palette was adopted before anyone suspected that salmon pink and asparagus green tiles might go out of fashion, but that’s another story. Or is it? Now that I’m thinking about it, it makes sense to cover all bases if you’re going to splash out on a new office fitout. Melbourne office frequenters, what do you think? Are aesthetics as important as functionality when it comes to office overhauls, or can the former be sacrificed?

More to the point, I want to know if a balance of the two is a reasonable thing to expect from an office interior design concept. Melbourne is a city that thrives on good design, right? With that in mind, surely it’s not too much to ask. Honestly, if you saw these tiles you’d start to understand why rethinking them is just as important as finding a new layout for the placement of power points.

It’s not like I’m in any position to instigate an office overhaul. But I could bring it up with management, given that I know the extent to which the current situation bothers everyone. Surely, management must be aware of it as well, but I’ve never heard it mentioned.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful. Our office DID win a competition, and it’s a great honour to be trialling out ‘the office of the future’. And the new place is even slightly closer to where I live, so I get an extra five minutes in bed!

Still…the future isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. This is supposed to be where all the companies that do commercial office design. Sydney based offices are just too expensive at the moment.

We’re greeted at the door by D4, our friendly robot doorman. We show him our cards, make some small talk, and he opens the sliding doors. And already, like…okay, D4 is nice. I like how they gave him a little porter’s hat to make his unblinking robotic eyes seem a bit friendlier, but it just takes so much longer than swiping a card. Then we take the state-of-the-art elevator up to our floor, which is pretty cool. Gets you there in about three seconds.

The office design once you step out is…distinctive. Everything is chrome, basically. T4 the doorman takes your coat and gives you a unique code to access it at the end of the day from the coat cupboard. Then if you want coffee, you just speak to J4, who scans your eye signature and makes your brew just the way you like it…in theory, anyway. The desks are all minimalist designs, and the chairs are this sort of…jelly-like bean-bag style that conform to your body shape. I do like how they have wireless charging stations and compact fridges at every desk, so you can just put your sandwiches in and charge your devices or whatever. And everything in the break room is voice activated, and…

I could go on. But I just think that many of the ‘innovations’ make things take longer. If it were up to me, in charge of a company that carries out things like office fitouts for Sydney, I’d keep things minimalist. Just aim to improve the working experience. All those robots have to be expensive, right…?

-Rowan

Among my people, we have a saying: “There ain’t no party like an S-Club party.”

Surely, there is truth in those words. For you see, millennials grew up in a more enlightened time, when TV was good, children’s TV was golden and we knew exactly how to have fun: it was after the embarrassing disco era but before the time when everyone was just on their phones at parties, not paying attention. You could say it was the golden age of history, right behind the empire of Alexander the great and perhaps slightly ahead of the year someone started to make pizza pockets. That might have been the nineties, actually. Wouldn’t surprise me.

And so we have started a revolution, my fellow millennials and I. The culture of commercial office design is steadily changing to suit our personal tastes, which will soon be everyone’s tastes, because they are the best ones. For example, it’s now totally okay to bring your cat into the office. And some offices even have specialised nap zones! I haven’t had the pleasure of working in one- my current, boss says that we’re not allowed to sleep during the workday because it ‘lowers productivity’ and ‘we should be adults’ or whatever- but they do exist, and their number grows day by day. I’d love to own my own office design company, or maybe even just work for one, someday. That way I can unleash all of my own, wonderful ideas on the offices of the world. That day may never come, but until then, me and my allies are going to do whatever it takes to drag the world back into the golden age of the nineties, except with phones and office pods for napping, and office cats for petting and general stress relief.

Alright, think of it as a fusion of two eras. The best parts of the nineties, mixed with the modern office design of the current era. And then, my friends…the party will be like that of an S-Club jovial gathering. It will be a good gathering.

-Charn