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Imagine an office that’s buzzing with activity, but the workers aren’t talking to each other. Instead, the incessant chatter is employees briefing their agents — commanding personal AI assistants to handle their grunt work and execute tasks. A workplace from hell.
As business leaders confront the AI-enabled work revolution, they’re realizing that the physical spaces we command are also going to have to adapt to new technology. The pandemic already decimated the old-school office plan, and the rise of AI agents could upend corporate headquarters just the same.
To absorb sound and reduce overall office volume, Gensler, the architecture firm that helped design JPMorgan’s splashy new Manhattan headquarters, is creating spaces with felt panels that swallow the noise. It’s also looking into updating meeting rooms with AI-enabled whiteboards, where agents automatically synthesize written ideas and offer visual diagrams on what employees discuss.
Gensler is also experimenting with tech-free zones in its own offices — secluded areas reserved for private conversations where no agent can “inadvertently hear you talking about something,” Gensler co-CEO Elizabeth Brink said. “Technology could always be listening.”
The tech-free zones also create a place for creative work. While AI agents can help workers tick through their to-do lists, big ideas often come from slowing down and brainstorming with colleagues. Gensler is looking into implementing writing rooms — replete with pens and paper.
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Design firms are already researching and experimenting with how employees will interact with emerging technology to create spaces that can adapt to evolving work habits over the next decade. Sally Finlay, associate director at Sydney-based Greenbox Architecture, part of architecture heavyweight Woolpert, said workplaces will need to have more flexibility — more rooms for group work and furniture that can be moved around — because integrating AI means jobs will look very different.
With AI, “there’s less repetitive tasks, less individual work, therefore more need for collaborative space — less rows of desks,” Finlay said.
Greenbox’s clients are also working on tying employees’ personal preferences to their key cards, she said. When they enter a room using their badges, the lighting and sound volume will immediately adjust to their ideal level, and the glass on the interior windows automatically frost.
Integrating technology into the building itself also addresses longstanding workplace frustrations, like choosing to go in when other team members don’t, or not being able to work in a preferred location. “We have clients working on that right now — tools that suggest when to come in based on what they’re coming in for, and who they particularly like to meet with, and where they like to meet,” she said.
Room for Disagreement
That increased level of surveillance, however, could also be used to improperly monitor employees’ movements, negatively impacting morale. Attendance-tracking systems tied to return-to-office mandates have faced backlash and have been scaled down in recent years.