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Prominent architect predicts what the office of the future will look like

Transcript¹

Architect Clive Wilkinson designed Google's Silicon² Valley headquarters 20 years ago, with slides and ping-pong tables — to blur³ the line between work and life. Now, he says he created a monster.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:

Has the pandemic killed the office? Some people think so. Others argue that office life is here to stay. But what offices look like and what they mean to workers will be radically⁵ different.

NPR's Bobby Allyn talked to an architect who has designed some pretty radical⁴ workplaces.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE⁶: Clive Wilkinson gets defensive⁷ when asked whether COVID has killed the office.

CLIVE WILKINSON: It's ridiculous to say, you know, the office is dead. The office is the fomenting⁸ ground for people growing into, you know, successful adults. How would that ever be dead?

ALLYN: One thing is certain; the office is going to look a whole lot different. For instance, employers are telling him they don't want rows of cubicles¹⁰ anymore. Wilkinson has long disliked cube farms, so he's just fine with this.

WILKINSON: Cubicles are like human chicken farming. They have always been bad for anything other than kind of factory farming kind of approach to the office. Oh, put people into their tiny little footprint because it takes less money than an enclosed office, and we can kind of keep an eye on them.

ALLYN: I'm talking to Wilkinson at his glass-enclosed hillside home in West Los Angeles that's been described as a spaceship on stilts¹¹. As we sipped¹² tea in his living room, he discusses more than 30 years of designing creative offices around the world. But there's one subject that gets him especially animated¹³ - Google. He recalls how the tech company's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, approached him about their headquarters in Mountain View.

WILKINSON: Yeah, Larry and Sergey said that at the time, we don't really have any reference point but, you know, the Stanford campus model.

ALLYN: And that translated into the Googleplex, a maze¹⁴ of nooks, bleachers and clubhouse rooms to encourage collaboration¹⁵ - also, perks¹⁶ - lots of perks - catered¹⁷ food, organic gardens, massage¹⁸ rooms, private parks, volleyball courts. Incredible amenities¹⁹ became common across Silicon Valley. But now Wilkinson says it was a bad idea.

WILKINSON: I think it's dangerous to have an overt²⁰ dependency between the worker and the company.

ALLYN: He says blurring²¹ the line between work and non-work keeps employees tethered to the office. And he argues it's actually bad for creativity.

WILKINSON: You don't want an overly comfortable workplace. You shouldn't have sleep pods everywhere. Creative work does not happen in these, like, super overprovided circumstances. Creative work doesn't happen in a condition of luxury.

ALLYN: Which he argues can lead to burnout because workers never leave, and it isolates²² them. They never go to cafes or laundromats or the grocery store because everything is handed to them. He said the situation is...

WILKINSON: Fundamentally unhealthy and a difficult one to pull apart because once you've made all those offers to your employees, how do you pull back from that situation?

ALLYN: OK, so if cubicle⁹ farms are out and Wilkinson cautions against endless swanky amenities, what does the future workplace look like? He says big, open spaces with couches and standing²³ tables - an environment where it's easy to hang out and chat.

WILKINSON: You might think you're walking into the lounge of a boutique hotel, maybe. It's an amazingly effective work environment, even though there's no conventional office kind of furnishing or anything like that.

ALLYN: He's noticed something else about pandemic-era office plans he's working on. Companies are now investing in outdoor spaces. Go ahead. Answer your emails today from the shade.

WILKINSON: Because now it's seen as being healthy in a way that (laughter) health itself has suddenly become one of the top criteria²⁴ about where you work.

ALLYN: He says the future office will be a balancing act. It needs to be more attractive than working from home, but not so attractive that workers don't want to leave. Plus, there's a huge unknown - how many workers want to return to the office, and how often will they? Not even the most seasoned office architect has those answers.

Bobby Allyn, NPR News, Los Angeles.

(SOUNDBITE OF REUBEN VAUN SMITH'S "UNDER THE THUNDER")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

8 fomenting   

v.激起，煽动（麻烦等）( foment的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They accused him of fomenting political unrest. 他们指控他煽动政治动乱。
• Three sailors were fomenting a mutiny on the ship. 三个水手正在船上煽动叛变。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 cubicle   

n.大房间中隔出的小室

参考例句：

• She studies in a cubicle in the school library.她在学校图书馆的小自习室里学习。
• A technical sergeant hunches in a cubicle.一位技术军士在一间小屋里弯腰坐着。

10 cubicles   

n.小卧室，斗室( cubicle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Security guards, operating inside bullet-proof glass cubicles, and speaking through microphones, scrutinized every arrival and departure. 警卫们在装有防弹玻璃的小室里值勤，通过麦克风细致盘问每一个进出的人。 来自辞典例句
• I guess they thought me content to stay in cubicles. 我猜他们认为我愿意呆在小房间里。 来自互联网

11 stilts   

n.（支撑建筑物高出地面或水面的）桩子，支柱( stilt的名词复数 )；高跷

参考例句：

• a circus performer on stilts 马戏团里踩高跷的演员
• The bamboo huts here are all built on stilts. 这里的竹楼都是架空的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句

13 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

14 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

15 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

16 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

17 catered   

提供饮食及服务( cater的过去式和过去分词 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• We catered for forty but only twenty came. 我们准备了40客饭菜，但只来了20个人。
• They catered for everyone regardless of social rank. 他们为所有人服务而不计较其社会地位。

18 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

19 amenities   

n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快

参考例句：

• The campsite is close to all local amenities. 营地紧靠当地所有的便利设施。
• Parks and a theatre are just some of the town's local amenities. 公园和戏院只是市镇娱乐设施的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

21 blurring   

n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分

参考例句：

• Retinal hemorrhage, and blurring of the optic dise cause visual disturbances. 视网膜出血及神经盘模糊等可导致视力障碍。 来自辞典例句
• In other ways the Bible limited Puritan writing, blurring and deadening the pages. 另一方面，圣经又限制了清教时期的作品，使它们显得晦涩沉闷。 来自辞典例句

22 isolates   

v.使隔离( isolate的第三人称单数 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• The transformer isolates the transistors with regard to d-c bias voltage. 变压器可在两个晶体管之间隔离直流偏压。 来自辞典例句
• In regions with certain isolates of TRV, spraining is more prominent. 在具有TRV某些分离物的地区，坏死是比较显著的。 来自辞典例句

23 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

24 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。