Let's Bring AI to the Office

On our minds

Way back in 2017, we wrote about the “digital layer” in an inhabitant’s experience of a building. We termed it the “seventh layer,” based on the six layers Stewart Brand identifies in How Buildings Learn: site, structure, skin, services, space, and, stuff. We described this layer as the “occupant-enabled digital experience,” and it’s premised upon collecting data about how and when we use our office spaces and designing better experiences from that data.

Now, let’s take things a step further. What if this well-designed space was also changeable, ready to adapt seamlessly to evolving user needs and desires as they arise? If the objective is social or emotional comfort in a space, all we need is to collect the data and run the model. We already have the technology.

This is partially a “return to office” conversation. We don’t believe in forcing employees to do something that doesn’t work for them in a holistic sense (and a five-day in-office experience, complete with a commute, may not). However, we fully support offering workers the most comfortable and useful workspaces possible. Using AI to predict the types of amenities and accommodations based on the types of work people actually prefer to do in-office rather than remotely, and designing spaces prioritizing these needs, will ensure that the office is well-used and appreciated. This may mean creative spaces for casual interaction, targeted spaces for group and team work, and distraction-free, customizable spaces for solo focus work.

The intersection of AI and facilities shouldn’t be solely about enhancing productivity; it should also be about enhancing pleasure and ease. AI can process data on which in-office art pieces people actually spend time admiring. Which interactive experiences truly engage people; do they use the aromatherapy options at the focus-desks? What about in the meditation room? Where in the office do we seek time to reset and recalibrate, and what we do with our bodies during those times–stretching, pacing, putting our heads down? Answering questions like these will help us create spaces that both serve and delight employees. In other words, we need a model that predicts, “Would people like this? Would people come here?”

High-end retail and hospitality designers, those who create places premised on enticing and charming people, have carefully considered these questions for decades. We’ve talked before about how workplaces need to borrow a page from the hospitality industry’s playbook; this is especially important now that offices are places workers choose to be (or not). AI can enable access to something workers didn’t have access to before, whether that’s as simple as temperature control (how many of us have no idea where the office thermostat is?) or more nuanced, like a virtual barista that remembers how to make your perfect cup of coffee. Maybe a white noise machine in the restroom activates automatically when a stall door locks, to cut down on water waste, while also making users more comfortable. Maybe the break room offers customizable, colored lighting and playlists.

However, successful AI integration is also about getting back to the basics. Even before we had a hybrid workforce, few buildings had 24/7 facilities management. AI can offer the necessary flexibility, now that we come in on an “as-needed” basis, whether this means allowing access to locked spaces when a user has forgotten a key, customizing a sensory experience, shutting off an accidentally triggered alarm, or offering automated IT help.