Google is redesigning its offices for the world after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the New York Times has a large-scale report full of pictures and videos outlining the company’s plans. As the Times pointed out, the Silicon Valley office standard has been open for a long time, and designers and developers work together in the name of “spontaneous collaboration.”
Although this is often an excuse to reduce costs by packing as many workers as possible into expensive real estate. However, in a cautious COVID awareness culture, crowding or compartments will not solve the problem: people need space, at least 6 feet of space.
David Radcliffe, vice president of Google Real Estate and Workplace Services, said that in the current office configuration, Google can only use one of every three desks in order to keep people six feet away. If the next pandemic occurs, even For the annual flu, six feet is still an important threshold.
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The company is basically overthrowing the open office theory that has been popular in Silicon Valley for many years, which is to pack more workers into smaller spaces, deprive them of their privacy, and bring about better cooperation. Google will use “team cabins” to replace rows of desks and meeting rooms, which include chairs with casters, desks, whiteboards and storage units, which can be driven by wheels to suit various arrangements, and in some cases Reschedule in a few hours.
To create temporary separation between open desks, the company is testing an inflatable robotic wall, which can be pushed around. It is a fabric-based overhead air duct system that is connected with zippers and can be moved within a weekend to achieve different seating arrangements. To accommodate meetings of remote workers, a new semi-circular “bonfire” meeting room alternates the seats of those who are physically present with the screens of those who call.
In order to make hot desk work easier, Google is testing a workstation that can remember the user’s settings and adjust the local temperature and the height and tilt of the display according to the employee’s card swiping. It can even bring up family photos on the display, giving people the feeling of a compartment. Optional “leaf partitions” called “petals” can be connected to the desk to “eliminate glare”, and office chairs with built-in speakers in the headrest will play white noise to reduce nearby sounds.
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