The ID Community on the Future of Work
By Andrew Connor
October 7, 2021
IIT Institute of Design will be featured in the USA Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Working with the College of Art, Architecture, and Design at the American University of Sharjah, ID will present projects focused on reimagining urban physicality in post-pandemic workspaces.
Two projects created by students working with ID associate professor and director of ID Academy Anijo Mathew will be presented. The first, “Hybrid Socialization in Changing Workplace Boundaries,” analyzes the way relationship dynamics are changing in hybrid virtual and in-person work environments. The second, “Transmutable Places for Post-Pandemic Urban Spaces,” explores customizable and modular urban work environments for hybrid work scenari
The Dubai expo started October 1, 2021, and will continue through the end of March 2022.
Workplace futures has been a highly discussed topic in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as social distancing measures have upended traditional office practices. Yet even before the pandemic, the future of work has long been an area of expertise for ID faculty and students. Recently, a group of ID graduates, with ID Studio Professor Zach Pino, received recognition from Fast Company’s World Changing Idea awards for the creation of a software that maps areas of inclusivity and exclusion in office floor plans that was started in 2019.
Members of the ID community will also present perspectives on workplace futures on Monday, October 11, as part of careerID Confab. The presenters—Teddy Zmrhal, global vice president of design and innovation at Salesforce, ID Associate Professor Laura Forlano, and ID student Emmanuella Ben-Eboh (MDes + MBA 2022)—will discuss the implications of “the Great Resignation” and today’s remote affordances and requirements.
