Designing the office of tomorrow

Course

The nature of work and the role it plays in our lives have changed greatly over the past few years. The pandemic has driven the adoption of hybrid and remote ways of working, changing personal behaviors, tools, places, and decision-making and organizational processes, imparting speed to a change that was already underway but is now unstoppable and proceeds in multiple directions.

The office is increasingly a “diffuse place“, a set of interdependent real and virtual spaces with connections that need to be thought out, planned and designed.

Thus “workplace” has morphed into “workscape,” a neologism that tells of the heterogeneous plurality of meanings, roles, and configurations that the office takes on in a profoundly changing society in which the future of work is uncertain and constantly evolving.

This Executive Course aims to provide a comprehensive view of the present and future scenarios of the work environment, from the relationship between offices and the city to the individual work modes that characterize remote and hybrid work. The main topics covered in the course are:

• The historical evolution of office models.
• The transformation of the real estate and real estate market and workspace management.
• An introduction to workspace design in its current and future trends.
• The principles of space planning and design of remote spaces.
• The relationship between workspaces and new innovation processes.
• The contribution of technology to ergonomic design and people’s well-being.
• The development of engagement, inclusion, and diversity policies in the workplace.
• Environmental sustainability and Biophilic Design.
• Digital management of the hybrid office.

Didactics

Attendance

The course consists of 8 teaching modules of varying lengths for a total of 19 days.

The formula includes a combination of lectures and practice activities on wednesday afternoons online (16:30 – 19:30), friday afternoons (16:30 – 19:30) and saturdays (10:00 – 13:00 / 14:00 – 17:00) in presence.

Course attendance is 80% mandatory.

Tutorials are run on real cases with the involvement of companies and professionals specialized in designing advanced, hybrid and distributed office solutions.

Training objectives

The course aims to provide participants with the tools to understand and deal with the complexity of the “contemporary office” phenomenon. Through a multidisciplinary approach, the knowledge needed to manage and design physical and virtual work environments focused on “future-proofing” people’s well-being will be provided.

Acquired skills

The course participation offers opportunities in office design, facility management, corporate management of innovation and digital transformation, research and scenarist on the world of work, with the prospect of freelance and corporate work. The course content is also intended to enrich the education of advanced HR managers and product designers.

Didactic Modules

Session 1 – Offices: past, present, future
Historical evolution and scenarios of the contemporary office.

Duration: 8h lectures.

Content: What is an office, study of reference models and overview of the historical-conceptual evolution of the work environment.

Subject area: History of interior architecture, Design.

Module topics:

Lecture 1. Introduction to course structure, faculty and various subject areas (2 hours).

Lecture 2. The contemporary office, current trends, smart and hybrid working.

Lecture 3. The office concept and major historical models.

Session 2 – Office as a space for collaboration
Innovative office models and innovation processes.

Duration: 9h lecture + workshop.

Content: Relationship between new modes of agile work, Design Thinking and sprint processes, and work spaces that support these activities (4Cs: Collaboration, Communication, Concentration and Contemplation).

Subject area: Interior Design, Theory and Practice of Office Space Design.

Lesson Topic:

Lecture 1. New work and innovation processes in the office, the 4Cs and new space configurations.

Lecture 2. Design Thinking workshop applied to office space.

Session 3 – The evolution of real estate
Real estate market dynamics and the relationship between offices and the city.

Duration: 6h online classes.

Content: Buildings for work, resource management, reference models and overview of the evolution of the real estate market.

Subject area: Facility Management, Architecture & Urban Planning, Finance.

Lecture Topic:

Lecture 1. What is Real Estate and how it is changing. The project between cities, architecture, workspaces and resource management. Post-pandemic scenarios.

Lecture 2. Office project planning and management, cost and resource assessment, digital for resource management and implementation, the 3B concept, bricks, bytes and behaviours.

Session 4 – Office for people
Strategies and principles for creating attractive, inclusive, multi-generational and sustainable workspaces.

Duration: 15h lectures + visits.

Content: Principles of Office Wellbeing, Design for Inclusion, Biophilic Architecture.

Subject area: Sociology of Work, HR Management, Architecture, Design, Technical Design.

Lecture Topic:

Lecture 1. Office engagement and the office as a community.

Lecture 2. The inclusive office and open to diversity.

Lesson 3. Principles of Ergonomics and well-being in the workplace.

Lecture 4. The biophilic approach and nature in the office.

Lecture 5. Light as a dynamic design element.

Visit: Caimi Lab “The acoustic management of the office.”

Session 5 – Designing the contemporary office
Space Planning and Office Interiors.

Duration: 12h lecture + workshop.

Content: Principles of efficient and functional workplace design and their application.

Subject area: Interior Design, Architecture.

Lecture Topic:

Lecture 1. Space Planning principles for efficient workspace design.

Lecture 2. Designing workplace experience on corporate values and new ways of working.

Lecture 3. Hands-on workshop of Space Planning.

Session 6 – Managing the hybrid office: the cloud experience

Duration: 9h lectures offered by TAG.

Content: Principles for managing the hybrid office.

Topic area: Digital Architecture, managing digital environments.

Lecture Topic:

Lecture 1. Digital Architecture: introduction to the concept of DevOps. Introduction to the concept of Dev-Security-Ops.

Networking with Cisco.

Lecture 2. Design for failure. How to design robust systems that can handle problems proactively. Showback and Chargeback. How to manage the cost of resources used in the DevOps environment.

Session 7 – Managing the hybrid office: the people experience

Duration: 12h lectures offered by TAG.

Content: Managing hybrid teams.

Subject area: Resource management, Change management.

Lecture Topic:

Lecture 1. Digital workspace and digital tools.

Lecture 2. Hybrid team management. Hybrid team management. Networking with Creative Harbour.

Lecture 3. Business Innovation: identifying the foundation of business strategy (vision, mission and execution). Knowing the different stakeholders and understanding their interests and goals. Organization al Hacking and Change Management: understand how past organizational models are evolving and how various leading companies are interpreting these transformation processes through sharing cutting-edge cases. Embed practices in your organization to increase team collaboration.

Session 8 – What’s Next?
Future Office Scenario.

Duration: 9h lecture + workshop.

Content: Concluding workshop of the course that involves defining some future innovation scenarios for space configurations and office solutions.

Subject area: Scenario Thinking, Speculative Design, Innovation Management, Design.

Lecture Topic:

Lecture 1. Summary of topics covered in previous modules; Introduction of future use scenarios.

Lecture 2. Design workshop innovation scenarios of office products and solutions (e.g., “Future of Hybrid Work”).

Title Released

At the end of the Course, an open badge for the Course in “Designing the office of tomorrow – Evolving scenarios of work modes and places” will be issued by POLI.design.

Admission

Requirements

Users of the course are architects and designers interested in the subject area and office professionals such as managers, human resource managers, interior designers, representatives of technology departments, and other professionals interested in understanding emerging trends and tendencies in the office world.

Applicants should submit their selection documents by connecting to the following LINK:

• Application for Admission to the Course
• Copy of Fiscal Code and ID.
• Curriculum Vitae.

Price

The Executive Course has a cost of € 2,800.00 + VAT 22 % for each student. This sum will be paid in one lump sum upon signing of the private contract.

Partial Exemptions for Companies.

For companies that enroll two or more employees, the cost will be:

€ 2,800.00 + VAT for the first employee

€ 2,600.00 + VAT for the second employee

€ 2,400.00 + VAT for the third and more employees

In order to take advantage of this commercial policy, the company will have to send a self-certification stating that the employees belong to the same company plus the required documents for the selection process.

Discounts for joint purchase of multiple courses in the Cluster: Future of work.

The following discounts are provided against enrollment in multiple courses by the same participant:

• Buying 2 courses: 15% to be applied on the participation fee of the least expensive course
• Buying 3 courses: 20% to be applied on the participation fee of the least expensive course

Valid discount only for concurrent non-subsequent purchase.

Faculty