When most people hear the word ‘energy’ in relation to workspaces terms such as energy usage or energy efficiency typically come to mind. But for a growing number of businesses, architects and space designers, discussions about workspace ‘energy’ focus on the degree to which it represents healthy, sustainable, vibrant and productive working environment. Today, when architects and planners design workspaces, they are looking at them from the perspective of how well they facilitate the flow of creative and productive energy.
Office workspace environments have undergone tremendous changes over the years. For decades, individual isolated offices were the norm. Eventually, private offices gave way to vast open cubicle farms. Both of these designs physically isolated workers from one other, creating what many came to view as an unhealthy ‘energy’ in terms of the working environment they projected. By keeping individual workers isolated, these office layouts were inhibiting the flow of creative and productive energy throughout the workspace.
Energy in the workplace
By Ron Flavin