PROJECTLAB THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE

Project: The workplace of the futureLocation: MadridAuthors: Jorge Camacho, Javier López-MencheroCollaborations (translator): Candela SánchezProject date: September 2012Type: Contest

PROJECTLAB (La Latina)

CURRENT WORKPLACE TRENDS

Most institutions and companies are still based on a pyramidal system of power and work. Never-theless, this is beginning to change. Multiple fac-tors are transforming these concepts of work and therefore are also changing the space in which it takes place.

TECHNOLOGY

The unstoppable development of the technologies of information and communication are the main factor in the evolution of the labour market and its workplaces. The possibility to interconnect people over long distances allows collaborations between more diverse groups.Since the majority of citizens have acces to these technologies, distances between brand, product, worker and client are reduced.

EXPANSION AND GLOBALISATION

The will of brands today to expand the market on a worldwide scale is dispersing the workspaces and timetables (given the connection between scatte-red people). All of this generates a more complex network which will only function correctly and effi-ciently if decision processes are cut shorter: more power to more workers.

FREELANCE WORKERS

The ongoing growth of the now very common wor-kers that don’t belong to a company, searching for projects that adapt to their own interests, increases the freedom and reduces boundaries between the brands and companies, opening the market much wider. The more freelance workers there are, the more companies try to retain talent, improving the laboral quality of their workers.These factors have given rise to what could be referred to as the seeds of future workplaces. Companies that aim to be innovative and creative begin to shift the perspective of workspaces to a more relaxing atmosphere where the worker feels better.

The ground floor is used to create a facility that can be used by both users and neighbouring people, although it does not belong to the ProjectLAB (La Latina) as such.

Patios

Pools

Closed areas

Open areas

Low Temp.Complete heat entrance

High Temp. Necessary heat entrance.

Storage of excess heat

Very low Temp. Use of stored heat

Windows

FUTURE WORKPLACE TRENDS

In the future, social changes that are starting to occur will produce substantial changes in the way we understand work as well as whe-re we work. Working in an office or having a fixed wor-kspace will be only an option in the future, since with the current and growing technolo-gical development it will be possible to work anywhere. Workspaces that have more to offer will be used like for example spaces with the possibility of direct collaboration in-creasing social cohesion in these projects. In this way, workplaces will be stripped of resrictions and schedules, offering many possibilities to the user. The workspace will become a place of relax, leisure and work.The role of the boss will vanish, and also the sense of brands will change to turn into groups of people, sharing interests. This will increase people’s implications with brands

or companies, which is essential for maxi-mum productivity. Each one of these people will be able to participate in whatever pro-jects appeal to said person as a represen-tative of the brand without being imposed to do so. This would be an encouragement for free work.It is also possible that a certain group of peo-ple, collaborators and co-thinkers of diverse brands get together with a common will to create a new project. In the future, projects will be the protagonists, in such a way that workers will join onto them depending on their aptitudes and interests.This system will generate networks made of people and projects, working simultaneously from all over the world increasing both cultu-ral and generational diversity.

PROJECTLAB

In the future there will be facilities prepared for turning into workspaces, adapting to the aforementioned future work tendencies. In these spaces, all that is necessary to propice a distendedly carried out job which promotes creativity will be present.

We propose a wide network of those facilities called ProjectLAB, which one must become an “associate” of (be it through a company or freely) to use its facilities. With this accredi-tation, the said associate will be able to enter any ProjectLAB, having an ideal workspace practically anywhere (forcing the disposal of the fixed workplace).These spaces will not only serve work pur-poses, but they will also have a sociocultu-ral aim, for exhibitions and similar events as well as collaborations with universities to promote their use by students (to facilitate a multigenerational space).There will be two types of spaces: One will be up for rent by collectives or projects for a set amount of time and open exclusively for the members of these groups. The second type of space, being the main idea and the most abundant type, is one where anybody can arrive and acommodate themselves to carry out the tasks they wish to. As mentio-ned before, one must be affilliated to Project-LAB in order to have access to any of these spaces.In this way, a much closer and direct contact between brands can be generated, which in turn would increase the number of collabo-rations, creating networks of projects which would be related to a certain extent in some way or another. This concept would lead to projects with common and similar interests and ideas coinciding in the same ProjectLAB.Every ProjectLAB will be situated in a well communicated area, with easy access. We are describing a particular ProjectLAB loca-ted in Madrid, where the old Sportcenter “La Latina” was.

Private areas(for rent)

Public areas(all members)

Exhibitions and congresses 10%

Private work areas 10%

Public work areas 15%

Free areas 25%

Leisure areas 15%

Relax areas 5%

Amenities 10%

Cultural areas 5%

Snack and coffee bars 5%

Projects

Direct connection

Indirect connection

Network

Free areas

Closed leisure areaExhibition

Amenities

Workshop

Snack and coffee bars

Patios

Relax areas

Open leisure areas

Public work areas

Green area and sustainability

Exposiciones y congresos

Private work areas

7m floor 1 11m floor 2 16m roof

N

E 1:500