“The nature of work has radically changed,” says Simone Oliver, national sector leader – interior architecture at Architectus and Ambassador to FRONT.design 2019. “The rise of technology, automation, globalisation” – these are the big-picture forces driving change. On the ground, we see it play out through rapidly growing markets like the gig economy and co-working. Influenced by a clashing of typologies in which seemingly disparate markets like social media, education and hospitality bring new depth to what was a clearly delineated field of reference.

Simone Oliver outlines the defining design influences in workplace design of our time and the role the architecture profession plays within that.