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LINC Is Steelcase’s European Office of Tomorrow

05.09.18

Posted by Caroline Williamson

LINC Is Steelcase’s European Office of Tomorrow

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Steelcase has opened what they call the “office of tomorrow.” LINC (Learning + Innovation Center) is located in Munich, Germany, a European city growing in recognition for design, focusing on creativity for employees, dealers, and guests to come together to “lead, learn and innovate the future of work.” To make it happen, the design team at Steelcase partnered with Henn Architects and Patrick Jouin & Manku Design to reimagine the building.

Massive windows open the interior up to the bustling city outdoors while filling the space with natural light. Seating areas of all sizes are thoughtfully placed throughout the workplace with differently levels of privacy.

LINC spans 14,400-square-meters where a diverse group of people can collaborate and explore possibilities for the future of the workplace.

Photos © Steelcase

Caroline Williamson is Managing Editor of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and writes about her life, inspirations and creative pursuits on her element75 blog.

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Robert on 05.12.2018 at 20:49 PM

This is the future style of an office, amazing masterpiece, I wish I can be an architect or an engineer, they really have the power to make these unique designs..

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NickS on 05.23.2018 at 17:38 PM

All style over substance, rather than a happy medium. These open office layouts work best for chatty, verbal communication oriented individuals and team-based, collaborative work. Sales people, marketers.

They are terrible for individual “creatives”, programmers, or anyone else that needs focus and concentration to get their work done. Furniture companies promoting open office layouts try to counter this with the idea that you don’t have a fixed work location; throw in some shared desks, shared pods, shared meeting space, a cafeteria space, etc. and during the day or work week as your needs change, you move between these spaces. It sounds great in theory.

In practice, managers want you where they can find you. Employees prefer to personalize a space and make it “their own”, and have a sense of privacy. Much work now essentially demands large, multiple monitors to be efficient; you may be able to catch up on email or Facebook in a privacy pod, but good luck if you really need to get some work done on that CAD drawing while Karen is telling her buddies about the cute thing that her cat did yesterday.

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Ozgun on 05.30.2018 at 03:12 AM

Hi Nick,

Steelcase promotes an ecosystem of spaces where both collaborative and individual work is support d with great sense of cognitive, physical and emotional wellbeing.

Its research suggests that if there is freedom to choose where to work with the task at hand, engagement of the employees gets positively impacted.

The workplace has evolved from private offices, cubicles and open plans and only now we realize that we need all these types of spaces together that offer different levels of privacy and support all types of collaboration.

I hope that you can make the effort to visit the LINC. It’s a great workspace with lots of choice and control over where and how you work. :)

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