Work the room: ORGATEC 2018

Under the title ‘culture@work’, human beings and their needs will take centre stage at this year’s Orgatec, the leading international trade fair for work environments of the future. Promoting health in the workplace and fostering communication are among the fair’s major themes. However, Orgatec 2018 will address not just how, but also where we will work in the future. In the following, we introduce three areas of the diverse fair offerings: the Health Care Knowledge Forum, the special event Inspired Collaborations and the special exhibition WORK TO GO.

In our office work lives, we do one thing above all else: we sit. Average office workers spend 80 to 85 per cent of their work time in their chairs. This isn’t good, either for one’s back or for one’s life expectancy. In our private life, health awareness is a well-established trend that has had considerable impact. But what can we do to extend this to the workplace? Fortunately, a lot – for example, by creating office infrastructure that encourages activity and movement, whether through special furniture or a health-conscious office culture.

The Health Care Knowledge Forum will offer numerous suggestions and answers during Orgatec in hall 10.1. In addition to talks and discussion forums with experts from the fields of science, psychology, management and real estate, an interactive road map will provide detailed information on the subject of health in everyday work life. These offerings will be complemented by an exhibition of movement- and health-promoting products that are nominated for the ActiveOffice Award – a certificate bestowed on innovative products that contribute to workplace health.

The special event Inspired Collaborations will also pursue the question of what makes a good office. The emphasis here, however, will be on the promotion of exchange and communication. In times of digitalisation, which enables us to access data and communicate with each other from anywhere, the office might be regarded as superfluous. Yet the office is taking on an important new role. It is the place where we meet with colleagues, exchange views and work together to develop new ideas. This calls for up-to-date conference and meeting rooms that support productive collaboration.

Such facilities require the integration of advanced technology – for telephone and video conferences, meetings and presentations, for example. This technology shouldn’t be the centre of focus, but should operate unobtrusively in a supporting role. Modern systems can additionally recognise and evaluate the type and intensity of the use of rooms, allowing rooms to be adapted to various needs. Inspired Collaborations shows, through different (work) scenarios, how spaces can be effectively planned for collaboration and technologies meaningfully integrated to promote communication and exchange.

By contrast, WORK TO GO shows what non-place-bound working can look like. This special event presents the work world of the future as imagined by the up-and-coming generation, for whom flexibility and autonomy are increasingly vital criteria in choosing where to work. These visions were developed by, among others, students at the Akademie Mode & Design (AMD) in Hamburg on the joint initiative of the architecture magazine AIT and the architectural firm brandherm + krumrey interior architecture (bki). The students’ credo is: ‘A future in which work no longer defines our everyday life, but rather our everyday life defines work.’

Especially for the young generation now entering the labour market, working flexibly in networks, free of hierarchical, predominantly fixed traditional structures, is an important criterion in choosing an employer. The special event WORK TO GO will therefore offer tours, workshops, impulse talks, keynote lectures and podium discussions which take the young generation as the standard as they address the conditions and visions of our future work world.

The three thematic emphases introduced here, along with many further offerings, will afford visitors to Orgatec 2018 inspiration, visions, ideas and input with respect to wide-ranging facets of our work world. The trade fair runs from 23 to 27 October in Cologne.

© Architonic