'An office workplace, like so many other products and services in the future, will fail if it only manages to be ordinary'... Adryan Bell, one of the pioneers in the design of work and workspace, uses his new book Re-imagining the Office as a canvas on which to paint a vivid and, at times challenging, image of the future office. Through six inter-related themes, efficiency, effectiveness, engagement, expression, e-work and experience he encourages the reader to challenge and re-invent many existing long-standing workplace conventions. These include basic aspects like office design and image, workplace status and symbolism, dependency on desks, use of alternative work settings and locations, territorialism, use of paper, exploitation of technology and flexibility with time. More fundamentally, he encourages a rethinking of the whole concept and location of the workplace - and its role in supporting our work and the organisations we work for. The book is both backward as well as forward looking as the author remarks: 'we can learn from the past. And we should not throw everything completely away in boldly pursuing, as we must do, the new future'. Re-imagining the Office is a call to arms for all those concerned with workplace design; with the engagement of employees; with the practical task of nurturing the culture of knowledge, innovation and transformation that are now seen as key to future competitiveness in business and the delivery of relevant and sustainable services in the public sector.
