Deep Think

Year: 2015–2017

Open office plans, constant interruptions, insistent mobile technology, and a mobile workforce combine to produce a norm of distraction. For Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), cityLAB researched and designed spaces for "deep think," or the kind of concentration that both individuals as well as small teams seek intermittently. Over the past five years, recognizing both the changing economies and technologies of office work, cityLAB has partnered with a wide range of organizations that are interested in new alternatives for office design. That research is documented here, along with new design proposals that stand as alternatives to the domesticated, informal, wide-open offices that romanticize collaboration (often called "creative offices"). Six proposals by design partners in collaboration with cityLAB – including AN.ONYMOUS (Marta Nowak), REMAP (Jeff Burke and Randy Illum), and Guvenc Özel – respond to JPL's need for "Deep Think" space. These are not meant as definitive or singular solutions, but as conceptual strategies that offer new directions based on enhancing technologies that are either currently available or in early development.