未来办公楼 | 绿色、可持续和高效

Glass and steel skyscrapers have dominated global skylines for decades, but will the time for these icons soon be over?

Last year saw a 20-per-cent decrease in the number of towers completed globally, particularly in China, which has restricted construction to clamp down on vanity projects. Uncertain times have seen companies shed their central urban real estate, through downsizing or decentralizing. The climate emergency has us questioning high-rises that rely heavily on resources, materials and energy use, while the desire to work closer to our homes, communities and nature is quickly eroding the ivory-tower business approach. To avoid becoming relics, existing tall buildings will need to embrace a greater mix of uses. Who and what might offices be sharing space with in future, and how will it influence their design?

ShoP Architects' Atlassian HQ in Sydney will be the tallest commercial hybrid timber building in the world, all run on renewable energy.

Greenscrapers and villages in the sky

At the peak of the pandemic, many thought the future office would take the form of low and lengthy 'groundscrapers' like Google's London headquarters. Instead of densely stacking employees on multiple floors, spacious layouts with outdoor access were seen as a safer alternative. But the death knell for skyscrapers hasn't been sounded just yet. Last year CNN reported 'a slew of new timber high-rises set to break ground'. These include ShoP Architects' Atlassian HQ in Sydney, opening in 2026. At 179.83 m, it will be the tallest commercial hybrid timber building in the world, all run on renewable energy. Greater adoption of cross-laminated timber construction has made Norway's 85.34-m-tall mixed-use Mjøstårnet Tower a reality, with plans for office towers by architects AHMM in London, and 3XN in Vancouver set to follow suit. Building tall is still a sign of urban confidence; it's just taking a more sustainable form.

Cover and above: Southwark Over Station Development by AHMM is a 17-storey hybrid steel frame and cross-laminated timber (CLT) building, positioned above Southwark Tube station in South London.

As office tenants vacate, existing tall buildings are being rethought as villages in the sky replete with facilities that reflect our times. As Aditya Sanghvi, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, has said: 'The biggest innovators in the space are starting to think about buildings not just as the four walls, but as the community – and the experiences that it creates. So then the high-rise of the future isn't just office for 50 floors. It's office for ten floors; it's multifamily for 15; it's a hotel for ten; a club area at the top of the building.' The management consultants speculate that, by 2030, building management tech will evolve to anticipate our needs and enhance efficiency in mixed-use towers; working, arranging childcare, calling an Uber, or making a beauty appointment, will all be done by a digital concierge: a seamless system binding service and space.

Eat your office

Engineering firm Arup took the village-in-the-sky idea further with its 2050 vision for the tall-building typology. Among its 48 features and facilities, there is the notable absence of a supermarket. Rather, the concept is self-sustaining, featuring local food greenhouses, urban agriculture and a biodiversity garden. Imagining a journey to the top floor of its conceptual design, it describes: 'We admire the mature trees and well-tended vegetable patches. Others are enjoying the views of the city, pointing at historic landmarks. We spot bees heading back to their hives in the linear park below. Displays tell us the air quality is good, and office workers attracted by the breeze have started to arrive for lunch. We buy salads that were grown via hydroponics on level 16.'

Plantworks by MWA, a four-floor workspace in London, has an integrated urban farm.

Grazing on the office greenery is already a reality at Plantworks, a four-floor workspace in London with an integrated urban farm. It follows thinking from Kono Designs' 2010 Tokyo HQ for recruitment firm Pasona – that beyond the experiential aspect of seeing fruit and veg intertwined with meeting tables and breakout spaces – the collective responsibility of tending a farm or garden can boost employee engagement and wellbeing. London-based Square Mile Farms installs and manages modular plug-and-play vertical farms in existing office spaces. And Finnish pioneer iFarm is growing a global footprint with a remote management tool for anyone with the space and will to become an urban farmer. Ageing skyscrapers are obvious candidates to become vertical farms among a backdrop of growing global interest. It's not clear yet whether humans and vegetables can successfully share an environment to mutual benefit – Pasona has since abandoned its HQ – but there could be advantages to the working environment if they can. Beyond providing staff with a healthy lunch, Square Mile Farms claims its installations improve productivity, purify the air, act as sound barriers and relieve workplace stress.

Drone launchpads and active lifestyles

Future tall buildings are set to combine multiple modes of transport. Arup's report proposes tall buildings acting as launchpads for passenger drones, like Pickard Chilton's Uber Sky Tower, imagined to handle the arrival and departure of 1,000 per hour. Mobility and transport would also be integrated with autonomous vehicle sharing, rail and electric bikes to maximize efficiency for occupants. 'It becomes increasingly important for designers to work more closely with facilities management teams and local transport networks in the early stages to ensure optimised solutions for seamless operation and positive social value,' the report states. 'This will need to be supported by the adoption of new digital technologies as buildings inherently become more complex in nature of their offering.'

PLP Architecture's 22 Bishopsgate features a rock-climbing window for entrepreneurs.

Integration of facilities might see office design extend to spaces once thought of as ancillary. A workspace combined with high-quality bike storage space (like Silo and Studio Marsman's garage in The Hague), would consider the safety and comfort of staff in their arrival and departure as well as through their working day. A variety of workplaces spread through a mixed-use building, rather than confined to blocks of floors, could overlap with running tracks, basketball courts, gyms and pools, promoting activity-based working and chance encounters. PLP Architecture's 22 Bishopsgate features a rock-climbing window for entrepreneurs to get their daily dose of adrenalin. Combining these features with office designs isn't uncommon, just more usual as perks to be enjoyed privately by employees of large companies. The next years will bring a chance to redevelop skyscrapers along community lines, and share them among a bigger, more diverse group of users.