Last Monday, Steelcase and Microsoft announced a new partnership called Creative Spaces – “a jointly developed range of technology-enabled work spaces designed to foster creative thinking at work.” The news is big!
The information released last week, accompanied by a live broadcast from the New York Times: New Work Summit last Monday, centered around the two companies’ rationale for focusing on creativity – and what they refer to as the new “era of creativity.”
“Creativity is in a sense the next competitive advantage for businesses,” said James Ludwig, VP of Global Design at Steelcase, at the live broadcast. “We’ve crossed through the apex of efficiencies to enable companies to be profitable and to have any kind of other competitive advantage.”
“We see creativity as not just the narrow province of guys like us who design things, but really as a sense of, ‘Every business creates value, and everyone who’s solving problems can relate to the notion of creation.’ That’s what we do. If you’re solving problems and you’re human, you can relate to creation.”
“Creativity is an iterative process,” reads the Steelcase website. “Work used to be driven by efficiency. The process was intentionally linear and divided into parts in which people could specialize.”
“There are billions and billions of dollars created around the world in offices every year, and most of them are not built – aren’t made or designed – to foster creativity and collaboration in people,” said Mr. Ludwig. “So we thought, ‘What a great way to do this. Steelcase and Microsoft are both centered around this notion of making people work effectively…we thought it was a natural fit for us.”
Outdated technology fitted awkwardly into inadequate workspaces is making it difficult for people to reach for creativity.
“And there are more disrupters at a more accelerated pace now than at any other time,” said Mr. Ludwig. “Spaces and tools need to reflect how we solve problems, and the problems are more complex and bigger than one mind.”
“Until now, space and technology in the workplace have often been planned separately by different teams with different objectives,” noted the partnership announcement. “This new set of Creative Spaces includes a range places and technologies to enable a creative rhythm. A balanced ecosystem includes technology that is both mobile and integrated into the physical environment as well as spaces designed for individual “me” work and “we” group work.”
The Creative Spaces collaboration challenges designers and organizations to think more holistically about investments in technology and space.
“We’re seeing a movement from the corporate office towards the creative studio, as two markers of space and experience, that all of this work and thinking reflects,” said Mr. Ludwig.
“And the notion of an ecosystem of spaces is really appropriate. There’s not one-size-fits-all moments during the day.”
Steelcase and Microsoft released joint research revealing the pressures people face in the shift toward more creative work. The results:
>83% of people surveyed say they are asked to be creative at work either weekly or daily.
>72% of workers believe their future success depends on their ability to be creative, but
>61% of leaders don’t think their company is creative, and
>40%, less than half of the people surveyed, said they have a culture that encourages creativity.
>44% feel like they could be more creative at work if they had a place to work without distractions.
>25% People who think they can be creative in places available for group work.
The five initial Creative Spaces on view at the Steelcase WorkLife Center in New York City are:
>Focus Studio. The Focus Studio is where ideas incubate before sharing them with a group. It supports individual creative work time and the ability to get into flow quickly while also allowing quick shifts to two-person collaboration.
>Duo Studio. The Duo Studio was created with the knowledge that working in pairs is an essential behavior of creativity. This space helps build trust – two people can co-create shoulder-to-shoulder while also supporting individual work. An informal lounge setting creates a place to relax and re-energize during intense work sessions.
>Maker Commons. The Maker Commons encourages quick switching between conversation, experimentation and concentration. Here, people can socialize ideas and engage in rapid prototyping – essential parts of creativity. To achieve privacy and focus in open areas, a work lounge with privacy screens creates a cocoon-like environment where people can bring their mobile devices and do focused work.
>Ideation Hub. The Ideation Hub is a great place for brainstorming. It’s a high-tech destination that encourages active participation and an equal opportunity to contribute. Here people can co-create, refine and share ideas with co-located or distributed teammates.
>Respite Room. The Respite Room is designed with the understanding that creativity requires balancing active group work with solitude and individual think time. Here, people may generate their own ideas without interruption or spend time absorbing information they just heard.
As expected, there’s a ton of in-depth information about the key features (in posture, privacy and proximity categories) of each Creative Space on the Steelcase website here.
Integrating technology and furniture is not new, but more pointed design focus on what we’re aiming for – Steelcase is betting on heightened creativity – will push forward better options.
“As part of the ongoing relationship, Steelcase and Microsoft are also developing technology-enabled office solutions, based on IoT (Internet of Things) technology that provide data to help organizations measure and improve their workplaces, and help employees find the best places to do diverse types of work within the office.”
The partnership will also include dealership license agreements for Steelcase to sell the Microsoft Surface Hub™.
“Devices like Surface Studio and Surface Hub are fundamentally designed around how people naturally create, connect and collaborate.” says Ryan Gavin, general manager, Microsoft Surface, in the partnership announcement. “With Steelcase, we have the compelling opportunity to blend place and technology into a seamless setting that allows our most important assets, people, to unlock their creativity and share that with others.
At the live broadcast, Ralf Groene, Surface’s creative director at Microsoft, spoke about the notion of creating something.
“It’s usually incomplete and foggy at first. It’s still emerging and needs work and input from friends or teammates to eventually build something substantial.”
“Traditionally…computers are usually absent from that first stage in the creative process. Computers are usually used when you put together the final piece…I think it can be a wonderful piece of technology that helps you augment creativity and collaboration, and amplify it.”