HW
Studies show that today two-thirds of office workers are either temporarily or permanently on the go and
connect to work online. If the office of today can be anywhere – why do we even need physical offices?
EB
It’s like a family that lives in a house, even if each member of the family goes
their own way. In this sense, office workers also need a common space. The office generates
a lot of hidden information that is only possible as a sensory experience and can’t be digitalized.
For example, the old prototypes and papers in our space contain information that can only be
realised in our studio. Don’t forget, we are still animals.
HW
What do you mean by that?
EB
We need a den, a room, where we can feel safe and free. Even the modern of-
fice nomads crave shelter where they can settle and relax.
HW
… and thus, even in the most modern office two human needs collide: the desire to belong and to communi-
cate and the need for privacy.
EB
Not when the office enables both. The open office is like a public road that
can’t be privatized. On this particular road, I carry a photo of my daughter and other personal
items with me on my iPhone – I don’t need my own desk to set them on. But the public road of-
fers me a real freedom to decide whether to sit or stand, to hide or cooperate, et cetera.
HW
Is this to say that the individual workplace is
disappearing?
EB
Yes, in the old definition of a
long-term single office for a single person. Cre-
ativity means movement, and literally offices
must allow movement – from the desk to short
discussions on the go, from the meeting table
to the coffee machine, in the gym or think
tanks. If you move, you see other things. If you
see other things, you think differently and ar-
rive at other solutions. I mean, Steve Jobs def-
initely didn’t come up with his ideas by only
sitting at a single desk with a piece of paper in
front of him!
HW
Six years ago, with the Alcove you brought
a bit of privacy back into the office. One critic wrote that
with your high-backed sofa you turned the entire logic of
office design on its head.
EB
The Alcove had a similar ef-
fect as the emergence of Rock n’ Roll: Before
one danced to clearly defined rules, then sud-
denly the music started. A sofa is thought to be
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