New horizons are opening up in the working environment: in technology, in management, in infrastructure. More and more, creativity, interaction and communication are becoming the central issues for successfully dealing with work tasks. The key is to find the best solutions to these challenges. Companies remain successful when they know about the trends the next years will bring. The trend report “New Work Spaces II” provides them with a compass, helping to pinpoint new developments and environments that will shape the way people work in the future.

With its seven theses, the second edition of the trend report offers everyone who works in offices or is interested in office design exciting insights into the latest developments. The first trend report was published in 2010. It summarized the results of the analyses in five theses: the office of the future will be a knowledge factory, a WE place, a cult office – and the spaces it offers and the changing locations of work are going to be a lot more important than any previous workplace ever has been. Human technologies are changing our daily life more and more.

In the meantime, these theses have been confirmed – and to a certain extent they have changed. We can also detect new trends. All this has been included in the expanded and updated Trend Report II.

The seven principles that will shape the future of the workplace:

1. The new, raw knowledge
2. A place to work not just a workplace
3. The office of the future is a we-space
4. Offices are turning into cult offices
5. Human technology is changing daily lives
6. Workplaces are also places of learning
7. Wellness means integrating movement into the working day

For one, the approaches to work in the everyday modern office have become more focussed on finding solutions - knowledge workers are becoming solution workers. On the other hand, the authors could make out two more important trends that effect office design: the office environment is becoming a “learning landscape” where we are constantly developing and growing. And health is becoming a critical factor, not only for individual job satisfaction but also for the success of the entire company.

The trend report “New Work Spaces II” has been published in the “Bene Edition” series and is available through Bene or online

trends.bene.com