Change makers: rethinking the productive workplace through an art and design lens
- Submitting institution
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Royal College of Art(The)
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- Myerson1
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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- Book title
- Creating the Productive Workplace: Places to Work Creatively
- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9781138963344
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Myerson’s research has critiqued conventional industry approaches to workplace design for over two decades. This book chapter, part of an invited anthology of essays on the office environment by professionals from practice and academia, challenges a common belief that improving human productivity at work depends solely on competent scientific calculation around such factors as air quality and lighting levels. Instead it argues for a more sensory and experiential approach as a creative complement to engineering-led efficiency in the office.
A large body of workplace design research projects, viewing the office through an art and design lens and led by Myerson in the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design over an 18-year period (1999-2017), is analysed in the chapter. The impact of this research can be summarised in four areas: the ability to influence behaviour, enhance experience, explore sensation and affect wellbeing.
A range of qualitative research tools and methods is discussed – some use drawing and wordplay techniques from art practice, giving the property industry insight into new and under-explored ways to measure and support productivity. This contribution is acknowledged in the Introduction by the book’s editor Derek Clements-Croome when he says that ‘a host of other factors subtly influence the human response to the environment’ alongside technical factors.
The human-centred design argument framed in this chapter was advanced via collaborative projects in the Creative Exchange Hub (AHRC KE Hubs for the Creative Economy 2012-16). It was also shared in papers by Myerson at several WORKTECH conferences globally, aimed at workplace professionals, and through WORKTECH Academy, an online magazine and membership club launched by Myerson in 2016 with a mission to create a broader, more human-centred perspective around office design by linking academic research with industry practice.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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