Community is a complex web 

The motto of this year’s mcbw is “how to design a vibrant community.” Does design now also have to build communities? Isn’t that rather too broad a remit? 

But if design can contribute to community, it’s a privilege and a really beautiful thing. And today it’s more important than ever to be proactive in shaping that community, using tools including design. We spend hours sitting at screens, working remotely, using AI. Human interactions are increasingly rare. So it’s all the more vital for us to strengthen and support it all. In fact, design is pretty much obliged to make a contribution.  

How can we open ourselves up to becoming a community, becoming a “we”? 

That happens automatically. We can’t avoid design, because whether we like it or not, everything around us, our built environment, has an unavoidable impact on us, both positive and negative. It impacts on human wellbeing, but also on human behavior. Quite simply, we are influenced by our environment. When we are in a cathedral, say, we talk more softly, almost reverently. But in a football stadium we start to bellow along with the chants and whip up an atmosphere. Our spatial environment does something to us. It impacts on our behavior. After all, space is the body language of organizations.  

Body language of organizations 

So space is never neutral? 

No. We can talk a lot about hierarchy-free interactions and about being approachable as leaders. But if the space around us is expressing something else, or rejects us or blocks transparency, that will have a negative impact on human behavior. 

What does your office look like? Or don’t you have one any more?  

No, actually I don’t. 

So we’re sitting in a ground floor conference room, around an oval table, against a glass-walled backdrop … 

... offering clear, transparent views to the street. I love these spaces; they involve us in the urbanity of Augustenstrasse, the street outside. We incorporated wood to add warmth, and introduced a host of different forms, colors, and materials. We only have one or two areas that are masked off because that’s where new products are developed. What we seek to express is a high level of diversity. 

Diversity in a spatial context 

And what is diversity like in Munich? 

Here at our LINC—Learning + Innovation Center—we bring together 30 nationalities among around 250 employees. I love hearing so many different languages across these five floors and having such an international feel, people with such different specialist backgrounds and countries of origin. That’s what makes us unique, and that’s expressed in the way in which we design spaces.  

So regimented corporate design would probably not do justice to your incredibly diverse character? 

Absolutely—at least, not in the classic sense. But many companies are now abandoning the idea of corporate color palettes as strict templates for company spaces. The aim is now to communicate company values through the built environment.  

So what values does Munich communicate? 

Openness and coexistence. It’s fine for offices to have a feel of the culture and its local flavor, too. Our premises here have a different look from our locations in New York or Singapore. Incidentally, our office design is based on the writings of Jane Jacobs. 

The urban thinker? 

That’s the one. She is our inspiration. She describes how to design urban spaces that have vitality, and those approaches can be applied to offices. We call it “community-based design.” One aspect, for example, is to find the right densit

Balance and density 

So where is the right density in the office? 

Well, you need a critical mass to generate a buzz. We’ve “densified” our office by bringing in teams from a different part of the building. We believe in the principle of choice and control; that means we can work from home and practice a hybrid working model, although we actually prefer to spend more time in the office, because we firmly believe in the community and we’re innovation-driven. 

So innovation needs proximity? 

And variation, and diversity of spaces. We’re here in a hybrid meeting room, designed to ensure that remote attendees also feel comfortable at a meeting. That’s what we call inclusive design. 

So, taking everyone along … 

... is very important to us. We want users to feel involved. We could theoretically fit a group of twelve in here, but the space also works very well with just two of us. This adaptability, this multimodality of spaces is playing an increasingly vital role. 

Human wellbeing 

 “Density” once meant cramming in as many people as possible to maximize the cost-effectiveness of the space. 

But at that level, density achieves exactly the opposite. It reduces communication because everyone thinks they’re disturbing the others. That chicken coop principle is counter-productive. Today the focus is more on wellbeing and enjoying work than on efficient use of space. We regularly publish the results of our research in our magazine, “Work Better.” There are statistics showing that 66 percent of employees don’t feel comfortable at work, and that figure is higher among younger employees

Sounds like my old school! But even if that figure was only 30 percent, there would surely still be something wrong?  

Space has an impact on the way that people get involved, how many ideas they contribute, how they engage with what’s going on. Designing not only for, but with a community is an extremely important aspect. And it is becoming more and more important to provide a spectrum offering something for everyone, a diversity of spaces. 

Are furnishings really important in achieving this? 

Yes, they support specific scenarios and improve our productivity. Community is a complex web in which completely different individuals with completely different backgrounds need to be brought together in harmony. And you achieve that not with individual items of furniture, but with configurations of space—or, as we call them, applications. There needs to be a meaningful sequence that takes the transitional spaces, the liminal zones, into consideration. Ultimately, the core issue is the needs of the users, human-centered design. It’s about people, not about something that only looks its best in a photo.

So if I understand you correctly, design is the culture of coexistence?

It’s definitely about culture. And, naturally, also about processes within the company that define and determine the organization. We view space as an enabler that can allow culture to flourish, but also stifle it. Lived culture is always a beta version; We are constantly seeking to evolve and advance. Companies need a purpose, an idea that makes people say, “I want to join in!” That’s the foundation for building community and culture.