Company > Vision

The office of the future is an illusion.

The office of the future does not exist, just as the 'work place', the 'company' or 'the house' of the future do not exist either.

Every office is unique, every organisation is different and even though the world may have become a 'global village', the variety of houses and diverse ways of living and working in all those different cultures cannot possibly be labelled uniformly. Whoever hazards a concrete picture of the future is by definition walking on thin ice. ‘We drive into the future using only our rear-view mirror’, said the American philosopher Marshall McLuhan. Predicting future developments stays a perilous undertaking.

Not so long ago trend watchers and predictors anticipated the beginning of a paperless era because the computer was to make paper redundant. However during the last couple of years more paper is printed than ever before. The office of the future, as the idealistic future dreamers once thought, would be an immense open plan office without any privacy. Although the open plan office did emerge, it only appeared to be one of many alternatives.

The number of new products that have been invented over the years probably exceeds the number of products that actually made it onto the market. Looking back there is something touching about these failed innovations. An automatic rotary fork for mixing spaghetti, as this was introduced on the home fair in the fifties, did not appear to be as handy as they thought. On the other hand innovations that did make it, such as the computer, the washing machine and the television, had an enormous impact on daily life and work. Whether innovations make it to the market can not be predicted.

But this does not mean that you have to abstain from envisioning the future. Life and work in the future are to a large extent determined by the things that are invented today. By today's developments, by today's inventions, by what is imaginable and feasible in the future.

For years now, Gispen is engaged in office design with a future-minded and dynamic vision. Life at Work is based on the principle that the office of every client is unique because external factors as well as internal factors such as company strategy, structure and culture vary from one organisation to the other. Social, economic, cultural, political, technological and organizational developments have their impact on business, persons and thus also on work. Gispen converts present and future trends in society into pioneering office styles. Apart from rational aspects also emotional criteria play an important part in designing a work place. In the end human welfare is crucial.

For this reason Life at Work bears emotions of the co-workers, such as well-being, territorialism, social relations and the organizational culture, in mind. The ideal work place is a functional as well as a pleasant surrounding, where the employee feels at ease and therefore can do a splendid job. The ideal work place is a healthy work place. 

A better life at work is a process which asks for vision and innovation.
Creating a better life at work tomorrow starts today.