How Australia can ride the next wave of workplace innovation
Asia, augmented reality and artificial intelligence will be the driving forces of future workplaces in Australia which is “ripe for the next wave of innovation”, one of Australasia’s top workplace design thought leaders says.
“Our future workplaces will be shaped by Asian workstyles,” director of the Singapore-based Workplace Revolution Caroline Burns told the audience at the Work Place/Work Life forum in Sydney this week.
“Asia demonstrated how quickly things can turn around in a decade,” she said.
The cubicle-style workspace, which companies are trying to move away from. Picture: Supplied
“There is no difference between a great workplace in Asia and a great workplace in Australia or the US or Europe, and that’s not something we thought we would be saying 10 years ago.”
Australian architects and designers who have been working in Asia will bring ideas back here while infusing it with homegrown flavour and “building on the natural innovation we’ve been seeing in Australian workplaces for decades.”
But workplace innovation in Australia came with its own sets of challenges, Dr Burns said.
“Australia is not a fast-growing economy with a huge catalyst that we had in Asia,” she said.
While seen as a disadvantage before, Asia had a lack of “legacy infrastructure” to work around, which meant innovation could flourish in architecture, engineering and technology with a “how to do more with less” approach.
“(Asia) has so many more challenges in many ways; responding to those challenges whether it’s social, or economic or environmental is really what’s driving innovation there.”
Next-gen workspaces
While AR had always been overshadowed by virtual reality, the poster child of digital simulations, the global popularity of Pokemon Go has “proven that AR has huge commercial advantage”.
“It’s opened the doors to a huge amount of investment and interest suddenly (in AR),” Dr Burns said.
She pointed out that in a few years’ time, it would be possible to virtually work close with remote colleagues in a ”blueroom” through AR technology.
“You’re in a room together and you’re brainstorming, you’re writing on flipcharts and whiteboards; they feel like they’re with you in that room.
“Potentially, there is the ability for AR to fundamentally change the way we collaborate physically and virtually.”
Dr Burns went on to note that AI should not be seen as technology that will destroy white-collar jobs, but rather seen as a way to improve work.
“Using AI to fuel growth in the services that the economy needs and allowing people to focus on the stuff that people do really well – this is an area where Asia will leapfrog us.”
Roberto Bannura, Beijing-based director of Steven Holl Architects, pointed to the importance of social interaction and community formation in workplaces for workers of the next generation.
“This is the ultimate landscape that workspaces will take shape in in the future,” he said.
One example of innovative workplaces is the Unilever Indonesia’s newly opened head office in Jakarta, which includes a light-filled atrium, day care centre, a beauty salon, a Magnum cafe and juice bar. Alibaba Group’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, is another standout workplace, with its open green spaces and column-free design.
