Joe Cilia, FIS Technical Director discusses the evolution of the office as today there is a definite move to address flexibility, agility, sustainability and individuality in commercial spaces. As a solution, we are seeing the rise of the pods.

The administrative function of a business has developed over time. From Monks at desks to Clerks and Accountants often expected to work productively with little thought to the environment where the work is carried out, often because production took precedence.

As industry has evolved and the importance of administering the business, keeping records and communicating with suppliers and customers grew, the planning of where and how people worked was important so they could ultimately be efficient and accurate.

The Johnson Wax building designed by the American Architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 30’s is often cited as the first attempt at providing a fully planned space that even included furniture, so that employees could thrive and the business would benefit with happier staff and better retention.

In 1958 a new movement appeared where the person and a more natural environment were front and centre in office design. Called BÜROLANDSCHAFT meaning office landscape, it created an interactive workspace where plants and screens separated desks. The movement quickly spread across Europe and eventually to the United States where density was seen as the goal and cubicles became the norm for most workers with those moving up the corporate ladder being rewarded with a corner office.

Meanwhile, at the same time in the UK rows of cellular individual offices adorned the management floors while admin workers sat in open plan offices where the ‘soundscape’ was addressed using free standing screens and acoustic suspended ceilings, and where no measures were taken to reduce the sound of ringing phones and typewriters. This must have been a nightmare space to work in.

Where we have come from and where we are moving to
Understanding where we have come from in office design is useful when we consider where we are moving to.

The Covid Pandemic in 2019 has been one of the biggest catalysts for change in where and how we work and some would add that Generation Z (individuals born between 1997- 2012) are looking for faster career returns, better working conditions and flexibility which is leading to a revaluation of space and place in commercial offices.

It’s clear that individual office space has been replaced for most with a workspace that may even be shared, where individuals are not permanently based at one workstation; however the need for cellular spaces for meetings is still an important element.

Coupled with the transient nature of the workforce is how the space is used leading to more flexibility; even the fixed partitions need to be relocatable to accommodate this flexible approach.

Relocatable partitions
Manufacturers have always been able to provide relocatable partitions, (remember relocatable partitions are different to demountable walls which in simple terms are dismantled and disposed of, which is not a sustainable option). Relocatable partitions were part of a key component when the Architect Richard Rodgers designed the Lloyds Building in Lime Street which was opened in 1986 to provide flexibility and therefore longevity of the building and the interior which still uses the same partition installed over 35 years ago.

Relocatable partitioning is defined in RICS SKA Rating as; re-locatable or reusable systems that can be removed and relocated without substantial repair and be capable of reinstallation within a tolerance of ± 10mm of the originally installed height. Relocatable partitions are also Tax efficient as they are treated as plant and so allowable against corporation Tax. Details of the Tax allowance and the case law regarding relocatable partitions can be downloaded by visiting: www.thefis.org/knowledge-hub/business-management

The partition industry has continued to develop relocatable partitions including the popular frameless glazed systems. There are examples where products are not only being moved within a space but also from building to building to reduce the carbon impact of the organisation. We expect to see more initiatives like this as leases are often much shorter that than the life expectancy of the products used.

If BÜROLANDSCHAFT was a turning point 65 years ago, where are we now, and where should we look to understand trends and the blurring of what a meeting space could look like.
Biophilia is the term coined by the Harvard naturalist Dr. Edward O. Wilson to describe what he saw as humanity's "innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes" and to be drawn toward nature, to feel an affinity for it, a love, a craving. Biophilia has now been used over a number of years to complement wellbeing in the space, perhaps not too different from those design pioneers in the mid 20th century.

Today there is a definite move to address flexibility, agility, sustainability and individuality in commercial spaces.

As the occupancy levels in commercial space have dropped it has allowed businesses to reassess how the space can be used to encourage people to come into the office, be more efficient, engage with a wider cohort of team members and especially new starters so they can assimilate in the business ethics and behaviours, by creating cafes, recreation space and informal meeting rooms and it’s here that we are seeing the rise of Pods.

Rise of pods
Pods have been with us for a number of years, initially in the form of Phone booths, single person phone booths, or spaces for concentrated work. They are particularly useful for people who prefer to take themselves away from the sometimes noisy atmosphere of the open plan office and are often marketed as a ‘Soundproof’ solution; more on this later.

Recently we have seen the partition manufacturers developing products that are larger and reconfigurable meeting pods which was much in evidence at Clerkenwell Design week in May.
These configurable meeting pods are essentially five sided boxes where all of the elements will contribute to sound insulation and in some cases sound absorption which can be a challenge when addressing ventilation requirements and the door detail.

To address the potential race to ‘out claim’ acoustic performance and provide acousticians with the data they need to correctly model and predict the potential soundscape in a space, FIS along with Cundall, University of Salford and Sandy Brown, have produced an Acoustic Classification scheme for configurable meeting pods4.

The scheme was required because there currently isn’t a process to test and classify all pods. ISO 23351-1: 2020 defines a method for smaller pods, though states that the test should be conducted in a reverberation chamber where the size of the pod is limited to no more than 5% of test room volume and the sample should be a minimum of 1M from any wall or slab. Based on the dimensions of typical test facilities in the UK, this means it is not possible to test pods much larger than 11M3 in essence a two person pod. In the absence of a method to test these larger meeting pods, manufacturers are resorting to a number of parameters and descriptors to describe the sound insulation performance of their products, leading to inconsistencies confusion and a loss in the ability to compare on a like for like basis.

The FIS Acoustic classification scheme for configurable pods will use DS,A which is consistent with the market and more accurately accounts for pod acoustics, not room acoustics. This will allow an equal and fair comparison between the performance data for all pods, regardless of size.

The data will be analysed by either Cundall and/or Sandy Brown and then verified by the other to ensure robustness.

Interestingly, FIS has a precedence here having developed an Acoustic Verification Scheme for Operable Walls back in 2013 which was extended to include glazed partitions and door sets in 2019.

These schemes are designed to ensure that any gamification or even deceitful practices are exposed ensuring there is a level playing field when comparing products.

The aim of these programmes is to help our members invest in the development of new products in the knowledge that they can be equally compared and informed decisions made on all the aspects of the product as part of the decision-making process.

There is little doubt that we are about to enter what some are calling Industry 4.0 where robotics and AI are part of every day in the commerce industry and even home life; either way, the way that we work, our expectations of how and where we work, collaborate and communicate with others is changing. As we have seen the ‘office’ is going through a transformational change. FIS members are stepping up and investing in new products to make the soundscape adapt to these expectations and the way that space is divided.

And finally, to address the ‘SoundProof’ claim; there is no such thing unless you included space, as ‘they’ say, ‘In space no one can hear you scream’.