AIA Panel "Reworking the Workplace" at Knoll New York

"Reworking the Workplace: New Attitudes in Office Design," an expert panel organized by the New York Chapter of the Architectural Institute of America, took place last night, September 29, at the Knoll New York Showroom. Moderated by Metropolis Editor-in-Chief Susan Szenasy, the panel explored the influences of technology, connectivity, health and wellbeing on design, as well as on what workers require, expect and want from their workplaces. 

The panel, which spoke to an audience of AIA members, included Liz Burow, Director of Strategy and Discovery at HLW, Peter Kuntson, Director of Strategy at A+i, Tom Krizmanic, AIA, Principal of STUDIOS Architecture, and Kylie Roth, Director of Workplace Research and Strategy at Knoll. Burow, Kuntson and Krizmanic each presented projects that demonstrated shifts in workplace design and changing attitudes surrounding work. 

"Work happens everywhere" was a recurring refrain, as the panelists discussed the increasingly active working styles that characterize today's varied landscapes of work. 

Other themes discussed included the transformation of workplace as community center, the shifting hierarchies between individual and shared spaces, enduring needs for privacy and quiet, the rise of amenities and lifestyle programming, the pressures and possibilities of technology, and the enduring importance of tailoring design and planning solutions to the well-researched needs of each client.