WATCH: Creating The Post-Covid Office

While many companies have cut jobs in the last year, the pandemic has created at least one position at Gensler: anthropologist-on-call.

“We’re trying to understand patterns [and] movement through space,” explained Co-Managing Partner Joe Brancato on the latest episode of Coffee Talk. “Why is one six person conference room on one side of a floor being used much more than the same conference room on another side?”

Gensler, which specializes in commercial interiors, has had to quickly adjust to its clients’ changing needs in the post-pandemic office landscape.

“We suggest not to wait too long because you may miss out on an opportunity for your real estate,” he noted. What do those changes actually look like, you might ask? “There will be some permanent structures, because certain things may or may not change at all ever. But most could and will.”

It’s not just office layouts that are changing. Brancato and Korangy discussed the implementation of new materials, including “smart” glass, mass timber and styrofoam insulation, that may reinvent not just the design, but also the construction of major developments.

“We’re leveraging the lighting to clean surfaces,” Brancato said. “These are type of things that we’re starting to really put in progress.”

Watch Brancato and Korangy’s discussion on creating clean spaces, architectural innovations, and more.