Changing patterns of work represent one of the most powerful social trends, with implications for all areas of design - architecture, interiors, furniture, space-planning, lighting, spatial layout, communication.

Some key facts about work:

• Homeworking will increase to more than 30% of the UK workforce by 2006
• The US has an estimated 11 million and 31 million mobile workers
• One fifth of UK offices fail to provide an adequate work environment
• Staff in a quarter of UK offices have serious complaints about such environmental factors as lighting, acoustics, layout and air quality

For nearly all of the 20th century, work has been confined to scientifically managed office buildings. But today, the result of taking work beyond the office is a redefinition of the relationships between work, home and public spaces.

An important trend is the rise of 'flexible workers'. They work in the home, on the move and in a range of different work locations.

The home is fast becoming the second workplace as more people take work home in the evenings and at weekends. Britain leads the rest of Europe in this: one in five (21%) sometimes take work home in the UK compared to one in 14 (7%) on average in the European Union as a whole.

Other concerns include:

• Preserving work-life balance when boundaries between the professional and personal are blurred
• Providing ergonomic design for a workforce which is becoming progressively older
• A significant proportion of people with registered disabilities are already in the UK workforce but are poorly catered for by workplace design
• There are low-paid and socially invisible groups such as manual pieceworkers in the home who are rarely the focus for any design input

An important strand of the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates Programme is dedicated to the design impact of changing patterns of work. A selection of design projects is shown below.

New tools for manual homeworkers

In 2000, Yuko Tsurumaru of Design Products researched new tools for manual homeworkers, in partnership with the Design Council and Geoffrey Reid Associates

Quality time at the workstation

In 2001, Pascal Anson of Design Products looked at enhancing the quality of time spent at workstations, in partnership with Kinnarps

The heart-friendly office

In 2002, Mike Bond and Martin Coyne of Communication Art & Design looked at influencing designers and architects to design better offices, in partnership with the British Heart Foundation
 

Links to relevant external web sites can be found on our links pages
 

(Sources: RCA Work at Home Thinktank April 1999; Henley Centre for Forecasting; Economic and Social Research Council; BIS Strategic Decisions USA; OAG Worldwide; Steelcase; University of Dundee; TUC)