It’s not really being called “anti-obesity design” — the trend in city offices across the country right now if toward “active design.” If you’ve just enjoyed three kinds of pie and double helpings of gravy, though, you might welcome office layouts intended to get people moving.
New York City has been in the vanguard of this idea, but it’s beginning to pop up in Memphis and San Antonio, too.
Part of the approach is a real departure from office design ideas at the turn of the century. The object then was to make things more convenient. People were supposed to be able to stay at their desks all day, wheeling their chairs just a few inches from printer to file drawer to coffee pot.
IM your colleagues, email partners, catch the elevator right to your car at the end of the day, and relax in your home theater while you watch a movie from Netflix.
The result? A dangerous amount of sitting around. Stanford researchers found that sitting leads not only to weight gain and the health issues associated with it, but also to problems in circulation and metabolism — even if you hit the gym after work. Sitting for hours turns out to be bad for the human body.
So Active Design makes things a little less convenient. Put printers, coffee pots, and water coolers back into central spaces where people have to walk to find them. Make the stairs easier to find than the elevators. Encourage people to go talk to each other instead of relying on instant messages and email.
It turns out that communal workspaces also encourage people to move around. Arranging cubicles in more open arrangements just naturally leads to more movement around the office. Outdoor spaces lure people out into the fresh air for a break.
Take a new look at your office design, or talk with our designers about ways to increase shared space and make it easier and more natural for people to move around your space.
What you do with the leftover pie is up to you.