Fewer desks, more social spaces

Of course, offices are always changing.Digitization and shifts in generational demands were already significantly altering the corporate world’s appearance prior to the pandemic.

Open-plan layouts had replaced cube farms, and technological innovations like Google Docs, Slack, and videoconferencing made it less important for workers to be physically present in the office.

Robert Mankin, a partner in the Los Angeles office of the architecture firm NBBJ who is in charge of overseeing the international corporate practices, says, “There was an evolution of the workplace that was already underway.”