Harriet Harriss and Suzi Winstanley / RCA Architecture
capture it: a future workplace for the multi-generational knowledge worker
This architectural study looks at ways in which older people can pass on their knowledge and experience through interaction with others in the future workplace of 2020. More of us are set to remain in the workforce for longer but workspaces are currently not flexible or comfortable enough to accommodate a wider spectrum of age and ability.
During the first year of the study, the researchers used film to map key drivers of change and conducted user research with individuals and organisations in the UK and Japan, where ageing workforce trends are especially pronounced. A variety of imaginative and poetic user research techniques were developed. Eight key findings emerged to describe the needs and desires of older office workers. These were illustrated in a series of site-specific design interventions in the London Borough of Southwark to express ideas related to such issues as choice and control, learning, reflection, sensory and tactile values, connectivity and triggers for memory.
In the second year of the project, the researchers distilled elements of the design interventions into full-scale working prototypes to express the key ideas of the research. Memory Bud, shown here, is an electronic reminder device that connects to a computer workstation and helps people to structure their working day. Love Work is an installation that facilitates knowledge-sharing between individuals, developed with the Faculty of Design at Kyushu University, Japan. The entire project was captured in a 100-page book that includes a ‘seed kit’ poster of inspirational design principles to help designers to address the needs of older people at work in a more sensory and sophisticated way.
Full details of the Capture It book can be found on our publications page.
more on the first year of the project
