Office design by AI: How future workspaces will be shaped by data
Just as AI continues to transform a whole spectrum of business functions, its impact on the design of workspaces is set to advance in the coming year and beyond — welcome news for HR professionals who stand to gain unprecedented insight into employee behavior and preferences.
Using AI tools, people managers will have access to more and more sophisticated data that helps them better understand how different departments collaborate, informing decisions ranging from the placement of employees to office layouts, according to design experts.
AI ranks among the top three technologies to have the most impact on commercial space in the next few years, according to real estate management and investment firm JLL’s Global Real Estate Technology Survey. And 7 in 10 real estate investors are already committing resources to AI-enabled design solutions or plan to, Deloitte’s Commercial Real Estate Outlook reports.
Yet as with so many things related to AI, there seem to be more questions than answers. As Deloitte put it, while broader AI adoption has laid the foundation, “there’s a long way to go.”
“The biggest problem is that office design has never been data-driven,” said Honghao Deng, CEO of Butlr Technologies, an MIT spinout leading the AI-fueled transformation of workspace design. Until now, “it was more about a master interior design firm making an assumption but never measuring the outcome.”
“It’s about creating an environment where people want to be and can do their best work.”
Companies such as Carrier, Snowflake and Verizon are already benefiting from data-driven design tools, employing AI and smart-sensing tech to create more responsive, efficient and productive workplaces, according to Deng.
Tech capabilities are expanding quickly, according to Arunkumar Thirunagalingam, senior manager of data and technical operations at healthcare company McKesson. “AI works at a scale and speed humans can’t match,” he said. “It doesn’t replace architects but complements them by processing massive datasets, spotting trends and offering solutions faster than ever.”
While the applications and implications are still evolving, leading-edge tools show promise. Generative design platforms like Autodesk’s Spacemaker aid architects and developers in testing multiple design scenarios quickly and efficiently, Thirunagalingham pointed out, while tools like Delve from Sidewalk Labs go even further, prioritizing sustainability and adaptability.
Thomas F. Anglero, former CTO and innovation officer at IT services and consulting firm Cognizant and an authority on AI, stresses that the true power of AI-enabled design tech — as with AI’s benefit in general — lies in its ability to simultaneously process hundreds of millions of different details, including parameters, colors, shapes, textures and climate considerations, far beyond human capabilities.
“[AI] doesn’t replace architects but complements them by processing massive datasets, spotting trends and offering solutions faster than ever.”
The shift toward data-informed office design comes at a critical moment, as HR departments contend with hybrid work arrangements and the wider adoption of RTO mandates. How to get employees to fall in the love with the office again is a persistent problem to which AI could hold the answer. Deng reports that when his company redesigned its own office based on usage data, it notched a 200% increase in voluntary office attendance.
How else is AI informing workspaces and how we work? Among leading insights:
The rise of huddle spaces. Smaller, informal meeting spaces are used more frequently than traditional conference rooms for impromptu collaborations.
The importance of flex spaces. Successful workplaces today require spaces that can be both collaborative and private, accommodating different work styles, requirements and tasks.
Energy efficiency as a priority. AI tools can identify underutilized spaces and optimize energy usage accordingly.
In the future, Thirunagalingam predicts “dynamic, adaptive” workspaces that respond to real-time feedback from AI. “Imagine offices that change layouts or features based on how teams work and what they need most,” he said.
Data-informed design is not just about cutting costs and boosting efficiency, Deng stressed — “it’s about creating an environment where people want to be and can do their best work.”
As he put it: “We spend so much time in the workplace. It has to be something that creates pleasant, productive experiences for employees while fostering innovation and collaboration.”
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