Factory settings: why is the post-industrial workplace so popular?
Creative firms relocating to industrial heritage buildings is on the rise. Research from the Netherlands suggests that connections to the past provide workers with motivation and identity
Industrial heritage workplaces are on the rise around the world, providing some of the most successful and striking ‘destination offices’ as organisations strive to bring their people back onsite. But what is the appeal of post-industrial buildings for knowledge workers? And what is the alchemy that enables them to bridge past, present and future?
Such questions are prompted by a host of recent moves that have seen Dyson’s new global innovation hub occupy the St James Power Station in Singapore, Apple settle into Battersea Power Station in London, advertising agency M&C Saatchi take space in Sydney’s historic Transport House, and Google open a new workspace above St John’s rail terminal at the end point of the High Line in New York.
A growing momentum in architecture towards adaptive reuse rather than constructing shiny new office buildings from scratch is clearly a part of this story. So is a switch from a ‘flight to quality’ to a ‘flight to character’ as workers react against technically perfect but sterile buildings and seek more meaning, connection and purpose at work.
Hidden psychology
But neither the desire to be sustainable nor the search for character can of themselves fully account for the popularity of such industrial heritage schemes. A special hidden psychology is clearly at play when people are placed on post-industrial sites with rich engineering histories, high ceilings, large windows, and lots of exposed brickwork, ductwork and metalwork.
At which point it’s helpful to refer to academic experts in this field. Researchers Yosha Wijngaarden and Brian Hracs have studied how ‘post-industrial workspaces are assembled, experienced and leveraged by workers and managers.’ They have written up their findings in a paper which draws on a qualitative case study of eight post-industrial workspaces in the Netherlands, involving 73 interviews with site managers and creative workers, participant observation, and an analysis of the websites and Instagram feeds of the workspaces.
What did they discover from this deep dive into the subject? That post-industrial workspaces have become valuable and attractive alternatives to ‘regular’ offices, and that a fusion of industrial aesthetics with industrial heritage produces authenticity and uniqueness. This, they add, is despite many schemes around the world appearing to share similar architectural aesthetics, including steel beams and monumental chimneys, while at the same time as being promoted as unique, authentic etc.
Affective atmosphere
It is beneath the level of aesthetics, however, where the real magic happens: a ‘range of material and immaterial elements’ combine to produce an affective atmosphere that influences how people feel at work. Fusing industrial aesthetics (space) with industrial heritage (stories) creates connections to the past that ‘provide workers with motivation, inspiration and opportunities for identity construction.’
The power of historical narratives to instil self-belief in employees while at the same time branding workspace for corporate occupiers as distinctive and high value has clearly not been lost on developers, to judge by the sheer volume of industrial heritage workplace projects now seen worldwide.
‘Branding workspace as distinctive and high value has not been lost on developers…’
But the real message of the Dutch study by Wijngaarden and Hracs – and of adjacent research in the field – is how central workplace experience has become. The once-marginal practices of experience masterplanning and plotting user journeys have gone mainstream. Chief Experience Offices (CXOs) are in high demand.
We can no longer design just for what people might do at work but for how they might feel about it. Perception has become the equal of activity and building visible connections to a ‘heroic’ or ‘pioneering’ industrial past has become a sure-fire way to rev up employee performance now and in the future.
Even if ‘industrial chic’ interiors with exposed bricks and beams are already a cliché, that doesn’t mean demand for them will subside any time soon. The alchemy is apparently all beneath the surface.
Source: Yosha Wijngaarden and Brian Hracs. 2024 ‘We Are Continuing an Industrial Revolution Here: Assembling, Experiencing and Leveraging the Affective Atmospheres of Post-Industrial Workspaces.’ Geoforum, vol. 148, 103944.
