What The F* is Happening to The Office?

Work Design
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What the F* is Happening to the Office? The workplace is being reinvented—and we're talking to the people leading the charge. From architects to real estate strategists, tech innovators to culture experts, this podcast dives into the seismic shifts reshaping where and how we work. If you’re building, designing, managing, or just trying to make sense of the new office landscape, this is your front-row seat to the ideas, experiments, and people redefining the future of work.

  1. 2d ago

    The Science Behind Thermostat Wars | Nicola Gerrett, Ph.D.

    Every office has that one person who's freezing while everyone else is fine. In this episode, Bob Fox talks with Dr. Nicola Garrett, Ph. D. a thermophysiologist at Gentherm and one of roughly 300 people in the world who study this for a living. Nicola's background is in human performance, soldiers in extreme environments, elite athletes, drivers, and she's now bringing that science into the office. They dig into why office HVAC systems were built around a narrow, outdated user profile; why body size, age, sex, etc. make one "optimal" room temperature essentially a myth; and the difference between behavioral thermoregulation (throwing on a jacket) and the physiological responses — vasoconstriction, sweating, shivering that kick in when behavior isn't enough.From there, the conversation moves into what's actually being built: heated and cooled seats, radiant panels, under-desk heating, and the "microclimate" approach Gentherm pioneered in vehicles; letting each person dial in their own comfort instead of conditioning an entire room. They cover the real engineering headaches (power delivery to a chair nobody wants tethered to a wall), the surprising ways thermal discomfort quietly wrecks focus and typing accuracy, how cooling has been used to keep drowsy drivers alert (and could do the same for you after lunch), and what Nicola took away from her first trip to NeoCon as a scientist walking into the design world. It's a conversation that will change how you think about your own chair.

    The Science Behind Thermostat Wars | Nicola Gerrett, Ph.D.

  2. Aug 9

    Why Open Offices Fail — and What Actually Works | Adam Morgan

    A consulting firm spent 18 months designing the perfect workspace. Six months after move-in, they tore it out. That one moment launched Adam Morgan on a mission to rethink everything about how offices get built — and why most of them are still getting it wrong.Adam is co-founder of Bureau, a company that designs and builds soundproof booths for modern workplaces. But his perspective goes far beyond the product. Coming from a finance background, Adam thinks about the office as a performance system — and the data he's seeing tells a clear story: focus spaces are running at 56–57% utilization while open collaborative areas sit at 25–30%. Workers aren't broken. The spaces are.In this conversation, Bob and Adam dig into:- Why the open office was built for a way of working that no longer exists- What CO2 levels are quietly doing to your afternoon productivity- How AI companies are reshaping office demand — and what the rush to spec suites signals- Return-to-office mandates: what actually works, and what quietly backfires- The real reason people come to the office (hint: it's not the ping pong table)

    Why Open Offices Fail — and What Actually Works | Adam Morgan

  3. Jul 28

    It's a Time Problem: How AI Could Save Apprenticeship in Design | Valerie Trent

    Somewhere right now, a talented designer is copy-pasting details, finishes, and door schedules into a set of CDs — instead of designing the inspiring workplace needed to bring a fragmented team back to the office. That's not a people problem. That's a time problem.In this episode, Bob Fox sits down with Valerie Trent, a licensed designer (NCIDQ, LEED AP ID+C) who spent about a decade practicing before starting a technology company. She realized firms were burning most of their hours on documentation — coordination, redlines, cut-and-paste work — instead of the design thinking that actually shapes how a space feels to work in. That observation led her to start building AI tools aimed at reducing the repetitive production work, so the people trained to solve physical, spatial, and human problems can spend their time solving them.They dig into what's really driving the industry's shrinking margins, why production work has quietly replaced real apprenticeship for a generation of designers, and two firsthand stories of firms using freed-up time to rebuild mentorship from the ground up — one through a rotating shadow-a-principal program, another through a weekly group redlining session that's become the most valuable hour of the week. Valerie also makes the case that AI doesn't create a firm's culture — it amplifies whatever culture is already there, for better or worse.

    It's a Time Problem: How AI Could Save Apprenticeship in Design | Valerie Trent

  4. Jul 11

    Nature Inside: What the Best Workplaces Already Know | Bill Browning & Catie Ryan

    What if the single most powerful thing you could do to bring people back to the office had nothing to do with perks, mandates, or the latest collaboration tech and everything to do with trees, light, and the patterns found in nature?In this episode, Bill Browning and Catie Ryan of Terrapin Bright Green, authors of Nature Inside and 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, make the case that biophilic design and biophilia in the workplace are no longer optional extras but essential workplace strategy for anyone serious about the future of work. From fractal lighting and fractal fluency to daylighting office environments and dynamic lighting that shifts brain states from calm to engaged, they reveal how a nature-inspired office and green office design can transform workplace productivity, drive return to office, and create a workplace experience that no ping pong table can replicate. Drawing on cutting-edge biophilia science, including new research on epigenetics and nature, biophilic design research, and neurodiversity in the workplace; Bill and Catie show how human centered design and biophilic architecture are reshaping the office environment to support employee wellbeing and workplace wellbeing across every setting, from hybrid work environments to corporate real estate portfolios. With real case studies this is the conversation on nature at work and what sustainable workplace design actually looks like when the science drives every decision.About the guests:Bill Browning is a founding partner of Terrapin Bright Green and one of the world's leading experts on biophilic design and sustainable economics.Catie Ryan is a principal at Terrapin Bright Green and co-author of 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design.Purchase the book here: https://amzn.to/4vVIlMU

    Nature Inside: What the Best Workplaces Already Know | Bill Browning & Catie Ryan

  5. Jun 15

    The Smart Office Revolution: What Buildings Know | Melissa Marsh

    What if your office could tell you who to sit next to based on what you're working on? What if the building knew you were stressed before you did?In this episode, Bob Fox sits down with Melissa Marsh, founder and CEO of PLASTARC. With 25+ years in the field and clients like Microsoft, Google, Lululemon, and Logitech, Melissa is an expert on where the workplace is headed and why most organizations are still behind.They cover the shift from designing space to designing experience, the rise of smart buildings and occupancy sensors, why digital twins are changing how we operate and plan buildings, and the uncomfortable question: are return-to-office mandates about people or about protecting the value of real estate?Melissa also unpacks why HR, IT, and Real Estate speak entirely different languages, what new metrics like experience density actually measure, and why real estate is, in her words, "profoundly unprepared" for the organizational impact of AI.This is one of those conversations that makes you rethink what a building is, what an office is for, and who should be designing both.Subscribe for new episodes with the experts shaping the future of work.Leave a comment — what's your biggest challenge with the workplace right now?Download our State of the Workplace Report → https://workdesign.beehiiv.com/industry-report

    The Smart Office Revolution: What Buildings Know | Melissa Marsh

  6. Jun 2

    Your Office Is Obsolete Before You Move In — Here's How to Fix It | Celeste Tell

    Are we designing offices that are already obsolete before anyone moves in? Workplace strategist and circular economy advocate Celeste Tell joins Bob Fox to challenge one of workplace design's most embedded assumptions — and make the case for a fundamentally different approach.Celeste Tell, co-founder of Epicycled, argues that in an era of constant organizational change, designing a workplace for a fixed outcome is designing for failure. Instead, she makes the case for treating the workplace like a kit of parts — think original Lego, not the themed sets — that can be reconfigured again and again without tearing everything out and starting over.In this episode of What the F* is Happening to the Office?, Bob and Celeste dig into why architects and contractors walk away on day one while owners are left holding a space that no longer fits, why landfill economics are the real obstacle to circularity in workplace design, how the auto industry mastered producer responsibility while office design hasn't, and what it would actually look like to design a workplace for a 50-year lease.If you work in corporate real estate, architecture, workplace strategy, or facilities — and you've watched a perfectly good space get scraped because things changed, or it was custom for a specific organization. — this conversation is for you.Like, subscribe, and share with anyone working to build better work environments.Download our State of the Workplace Report → https://workdesign.beehiiv.com/industry-report

    Your Office Is Obsolete Before You Move In — Here's How to Fix It | Celeste Tell

  7. May 14

    Your Office Was Built for the Wrong Work | Rebecca Swanner | What the F is Happening to the Office?

    What if the biggest threat to your organization's performance isn't your people — it's the space you put them in? Rebecca Swanner is workplace sector leader at HED, and she and her team have been not just asking how AI is changing how we work, but what that actually means for the physical spaces we design.Here's what their national research study found. Spaces for collaboration? Actually working fine. But focus and restoration are the two things that matter most as AI shifts humans toward higher-cognitive-load work and are critically underserved. Only 15% of respondents felt restoration was properly supported in their workplace. And there's a massive disconnect between what leadership thinks the office is for (presence and visibility) and what employees actually need (the ability to think deeply and recover from it). That gap is costing organizations more than they realize in burnout, resistance, and lost innovation.Rebecca walks us through the research, the design implications, the emerging role of responsive and wearable tech in the workplace, and what she calls the potential "death of the open office." She also makes the case that the most important metric shift leaders can make right now is moving from occupancy to outcomes, and what that looks like in practice when you're designing space from scratch or recalibrating what you have.If you're involved in shaping where and how people work, whether you're in architecture, workplace strategy, commercial real estate, facilities, furniture, or organizational leadership this is the conversation you need to be having right now. Subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    Your Office Was Built for the Wrong Work | Rebecca Swanner | What the F is Happening to the Office?

  8. May 3

    Who Actually Owns the Workplace? (No One—and That’s the Problem) | Phil Kirschner

    The people deciding the future of your company… aren’t talking about the workplace.And it’s costing more than anyone realizes.Not in real estate—but in performance.In this episode of What the F* is Happening to the Office?, Phil Kirschner explains why the workplace has become one of the biggest blind spots in modern organizations—and what leaders are getting wrong.At major conferences, CFOs, CHROs, and CIOs shape strategy, but rarely discuss the workplace. Meanwhile, workplace and real estate conversations happen without them.So who actually owns the workplace?This isn’t a design issue—it’s a leadership problem.We dig into:Why workplace strategy keeps getting ignored at the topThe real reason offices feel generic and underperformWhy companies are “fixing the past” instead of building the futureThe hidden conflict between HR, IT, Finance, and Real EstateWho should own the workplace (and why no one does)What the workplace should actually be doing todayPhil brings a rare cross-industry perspective from his work across McKinsey & Company, WeWork, JLL, and Credit Suisse—along with his research through The Workline.If you're responsible for the future of work—or trying to be—subscribe.We focus on the conversations most people aren’t having.McKinsey Organizational Health Index: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/hybrid-can-be-healthy-for-your-organization-when-done-righthttps://walktheworkline.com/article/all-ceos-agree-where-work-happens-mattersSubscribe to The Workline:https://walktheworkline.com/Download the State of the Workplace Report:https://workdesign.beehiiv.com/indust...#futureofwork #workplacestrategy #hybridwork #leadership #corporaterealestate About Work DesignWork Design explores how work, the workplace, and the office are changing—and the forces driving that change before it shows up in the built environment.What the F is Happening to the Office?* is a video podcast featuring real conversations with the leaders shaping the future of work across corporate real estate, architecture, design, technology, HR, and organizational leadership.We focus on the issues that matter:The shift from office as a place to office as a tool for performanceHybrid work, distributed teams, and the “return to office” debateThe impact of AI and emerging technologies on how work gets doneWorkplace experience, wellbeing, and human-centric designThe changing role of corporate real estate and facility managementCulture, connection, mentorship, and organizational effectivenessMeasuring performance, engagement, and return on the workplaceThis is not about trends or finished spaces. It’s about the thinking, decisions, and trade-offs shaping the next generation of work environments.

    Who Actually Owns the Workplace? (No One—and That’s the Problem) | Phil Kirschner
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What the F* is Happening to the Office? The workplace is being reinvented—and we're talking to the people leading the charge. From architects to real estate strategists, tech innovators to culture experts, this podcast dives into the seismic shifts reshaping where and how we work. If you’re building, designing, managing, or just trying to make sense of the new office landscape, this is your front-row seat to the ideas, experiments, and people redefining the future of work.

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