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The following article is part of "Adaptable Workspaces," our recent insight book on adaptable office architecture. The entire document is available here.

1906 was a turning point in the history of work. The Larkin Administration Building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and considered the first "modern" office, opened. Since then, office spaces have never stopped evolving. 

The idea of the contemporary workspace, in function and design, has been regularly redefined to meet the demands and trends of the day. In Wright’s project, the Larkin Administration Building, workers sat side-by-side in lines of desks which were then surrounded by managers. 

This idea was soon replaced by the "Burolandschaft" ("Office Landscape") concept, where team members were placed in more organic patterns without evident hierarchism to foster cooperation and communication. The "Office Landscape" provided a sense of equality, but caused trouble with noise and lack of privacy. Cubicles were introduced to address these issues, but this resulted in isolating office workers inside a depressing and monotonous maze of identical cubes.

To disrupt the monotony and claustrophobia of the cubicle, the open-plan office concept emerged. Extensive, borderless spaces became all the rage and made cubicle-filled offices feel dull and obsolete. The open plan was perceived as an inspirational space for a short time, especially after tech companies like Google and Facebook reinvented their HQs this way. Yet, the old, well-known issues of noise and lack of privacy came back and became especially troubling when people got used to a particular level of calm and focus they enjoyed with remote work.

With hybrid work becoming the new trend, people now visit the office only a few times a week, mainly to meet, chat, and collaborate. Hybrid meetings, often with virtual participants, are also on the rise. These shifts have made privacy and well-being more critical than ever, rendering noisy, chatty open floor plans as outdated as cubicles were a decade ago.

Predictions for the Office's Future

So here we go again, looking for a new modern office concept that finally caters to today's needs and the challenges of tomorrow. What will the modern workplace look like? First of all, it needs to reflect recently evolved lifestyles (like working from home and the growing importance people associate with their well-being), technological trends (growing number of video calls), and business needs (downsizing offices). 

Secondly, It will always continue changing. Changes will be more frequent, more radical, and even unexpected. Who would have thought five years ago that today, 22 percent of the American workforce (32.6 million employees) would work remotely? 

Finally, It has to be more sustainable and adaptable. When 40 percent of waste worldwide and 38 percent of CO2 emissions come from the construction industry, and 90 percent of the United States’ young workforce is concerned about climate change, the office design industry has to reinvent itself.

Key Principles of Adaptability

Famous architect, Carl Elefante famously said "the greenest building is... one that is already built." The same is true with offices. The keyword that defines what the office needs to be today and in the future is "adaptable." Offices must be able to respond to changing needs and circumstances over time and adapt to their users promptly and with little effort.

This concept emphasizes flexibility, resilience, and sustainability in architectural office design. Adaptable architecture can involve various elements such as modular construction, movable partitions, flexible layouts, and smart technologies that allow spaces to be reconfigured or repurposed as required. What are the key principles of adaptability?

Flexibility involves designing spaces that can be quickly reconfigured to meet different needs and requirements.

Modularity refers to the design principle that breaks a system into smaller, interchangeable components or modules, often prefabricated. This approach allows for easier modification, scaling, and maintenance of a system. 

Sustainability is about creating buildings that can adapt to changing conditions while minimizing environmental impact and resource consumption over their life cycle.

What Does It Mean the Office is Adaptable?

Adaptability refers to a space's ability to effectively accommodate its evolving needs and maximize its value for users over time. A genuinely adaptable office must meet five specific conditions: adjustable, versatile, convertible, scalable, and moveable. These conditions are proposed by Robert Schmidt and Simon Austin in their book Adaptable Architecture: Theory and Practice. Schmidt and Austin applied these conditions to buildings, but the majority of them can also be applied to office architecture.

Adjustable means the furniture, equipment and space is easily and frequently transformed to accommodate changing tasks. For example, an open lounge area can be transformed into a brainstorming room thanks to moveable walls and detachable elements.

Versatile relates to the capacity to change the spatial layout to allow for variations in activities, teams, organizational approaches, etc. For example, the conference room could be expanded by merging with other spaces to host more people at once. Or it can be divided to host several smaller meetings at the same time.

Convertible refers to the ability of a space to be repurposed and permanently modified to serve different functions.

Scalable  relates to changing size: adding or taking away space horizontally or vertically. It means some office fit-outs can be expanded, reshaped, or shrunk with ease. For example, modular office furniture systems allow users to reconfigure their dimensions using the same components simply by adding or taking away modules.

Moveable assumes office fit-out is easy to disassemble, transport, and reassemble in another place thanks to durable but lightweight components and an easy assembly system

As Schmidt and Austin write, "Every building is adaptable – but  to what end and what cost?" With offices, it's similar: the less time and cost it takes to adapt the office to users' needs, the more frequently they can be transformed and, therefore, more accurately respond to current expectations. More traditional solutions like drywalls are often not economically viable. Therefore, we need to do what we can to popularize solutions and ways that make adaptability both sustainable and profitable.

Mute Studio is a design and training team that supports clients in harnessing the full potential of Mute Modular and applying adaptable office architecture to workplace design. In this post, we sit down with Alicja Dziedziela and Paweł Panek, representatives from Mute Studio, to discuss their work and explore the significance of adaptability from an architect’s perspective. 

How do architects perceive the concept of the adaptable architecture? Are they familiar with this trend?

Paweł: It’s a well-recognized concept among architects, but mostly in the context of building design. It typically involves creating spaces that can be easily reconfigured to meet changing needs. Some iconic example of adaptable architecture include the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. The building demonstrates how prefabricated modular units can be arranged and rearranged to create different configurations over time.

Alicja: However, this level of adaptability has not yet fully transitioned to office design. In office architecture, truly adaptable solutions are rare, and when they do exist, they are typically achieved through tailor-made systems designed for specific clients. These systems might involve movable walls or flexible furniture arrangements, but they still fall short of the real scale the adaptability is seen in other architectural domains.

You claim new Mute's product is a game-changer it that field. So, in two words, what's Mute Modular? 

Paweł: It' is a room-in-room system that aims to apply the benefits and functionalities of adaptable architecture to office design. It enables the creation of flexible, reconfigurable rooms of different sizes, capacities, and functions. It allows architects to build pods, small to large conference rooms, lounge areas, coffee points, and much more. Long story short: the most of spaces that we can not imagine modern office without can be built in the system.

So, what’s your role in it? 

Paweł: We’re part of the Mute Studio, a unit that helps architects and designers use the full potential of the system. Basically, we meet every day at video calls with designers who work with our system and our task is to solve practical design issues. 

Alicja: We also organize lectures for architects all over Europe, where we talk about the system in the context of adaptable architecture. Occasionally we also conduct closed training workshops on designing with Mute Modular, for specific companies and distributors. 

Paweł: Since we’re designers ourselves, we know the nature of the work done by the people we talk to. We know what it’s like to finish a project right before the deadline and implement design adjustments at the last minute. 

Alicja: And since we were involved in creating Mute Modular, we know exactly how to work with it in order to take full advantage of a space’s potential and create beautiful, as well as functional and flexible offices. 

What are the most common questions architects have concerning Mute Modular? What do they want to know? 

Paweł: Architects are, above all, positively surprised that a product like this is available on the market. Their questions mostly concern the configuration options for the spaces they’re currently designing, integration with AV systems, and acoustic comfort inside closed rooms. 

We're facing a true revolution in the manner of working and using the workspace.

Did your conversations with architects change your own perception of the product?

Paweł: Absolutely. Designers often report needs that we cannot meet using standard solutions. It’s always an impulse for further product development. That’s exactly how many improvements were introduced.

Alicja: I’m regularly stunned by the creativity of users, who find ways to use the product that even we find extraordinary and novel. Mute Modular was created with office spaces in mind, but architects are also using it, for example, in hotel lobbies, car showrooms, universities, banks, and even in public offices and public buildings.  

What do you think caused such a positive reception of the product? 

Paweł: Architects, especially young ones, are naturally open to technical novelties. Using adaptable architecture in office spaces, understood as the possibility of continuous and comprehensive space adaptation in response to the user’s current needs, is a major innovation that aligns with the current needs of offices. 

Alicja: The key reason behind this is changes in office functioning that are currently causing a true revolution in the manner of working and using the workspace. 

Modular was launched at a pivotal moment for the office design industry. The office's role and functions have changed enormously over the last few years. Has the implementation of a hybrid work model influenced Modular's popularity?

Paweł: Of course, but not only that. Growing adoption of the hybrid work model, as part of which employees rotate working from home and working from the office, has several consequences. First, offices become the company’s meeting place, where some people are at the office, while others “call in”. Short ad-hoc meetings for several people, which could before even happen at their desk, now require a dedicated place so that both parties can communicate conveniently.

The greater number of meetings requiring acoustic privacy and comfortable conditions led to increased demand for meeting rooms, single-person focus rooms and cabins that allow for comfortable participation in an extended video call, without disturbing others.

How did these trends impact the office set-up?

Paweł: The traditional office model, where a single workstation is assigned to a specific employee, is becoming a thing of the past. Since the office no longer accommodates all employees every day and there is need for more dedicated meeting spaces than before, the space dedicated for workstations is reduced. The office becomes increasingly more of a mix of various separated and functional areas than one common space where the entire office life was happening. Requirements for an office are greater, more varied and changing faster than ever.

The interview is a part of “Mute’s Guide to Adaptable Office Architecture”, an extensive publication we will issue in the coming weeks. 

→ Visit the updated Mute Modular website

→ Discover dedicated page for architects

→ Book a consultation with Mute Studio

We recently opened a new exclusive showroom space in Munich. See the photo tour, and drop by to experience the adaptable future of work upfront.

Located next to the Munich airport, our new showroom is the best place to explore and experience our products firsthand. The space is filled with our acoustic pods (from both Space and Jetson families), sound absorbers, and acoustic lighting. Still, the main star is our modular office system OmniRoom, presented in its finest form as the four-zone, multifunctional unit. 

The showroom is meant to be far more than just an exhibition spot. It is a place where we created a thriving and inspiring "adaptable architecture hub." That’s why we started a series of workshops about office planning with our architects and designers. These sessions empower participants to create more versatile, user-friendly, and sustainable office designs using OmniRoom and our other products.

The OmniRoom hub unit highlights all the main functionalities of our modular office system: spacious conference room, cozy lounge area, and ergonomic workstations ideal for a small hot desking zone. 

The visitors can explore the vast collection of OmniRoom Furniture, a set of more than 50 wall-mounted elements, including lamps, desks, cabinets, and display rails. 

Want to come and see for yourself? Please give us a note at showrooms(at)mute.design.

Or check the entire list of our showrooms.