The New Workplace: Building Destinations of Choice
The office as we knew it is fundamentally transformed. What was once primarily a location for individual task completion has evolved into something far more strategic: a carefully designed destination that draws people in rather than one they're obligated to occupy.
At our recent "Chaos to Catalyst" event in New York City, Connected and Woodalls brought together leaders from Savills, Cushman & Wakefield, JP Morgan Chase, and SH Consulting to explore this transformation. The consensus was clear: we're witnessing the emergence of what panelists called the "un-office," a space built around hospitality, sociability, and flexibility rather than hierarchy and standardization.
For construction specialists like Connected, this shift represents not just a change in what we build, but a reimagining of why spaces matter.
From Attendance to Belonging
"We're not competing with other offices. We're competing with home," noted Gabe Marans from Savills during our panel discussion. This single insight captures the fundamental recalibration facing every organization today.
The post-pandemic workplace has pivoted from obligation to invitation. Companies like T-Mobile and Allstate have divested significant portions of their fixed real estate portfolios, recognizing that fewer, better-designed spaces create more value than vast expanses of underutilized square footage. The office must now offer what remote work cannot: energy, connection, and spontaneity.
As Kristoff DuBose from Woodalls observed, "The real magnet is energy. The kind that sparks connection, fuels collaboration, and reminds people they're part of something bigger."
Hospitality: Designing for Human Experience
Hospitality has emerged as a defining feature of the modern workplace, and it extends far beyond superficial perks. "We're seeing the workplace take cues from hotels, with concierge-level service, intuitive wayfinding, and a seamless user experience," explained Suzanne Heidelberger of SH Consulting.
This means designing environments that prioritize warmth, personalization, and purpose from the moment someone enters. Concierge-style operations, sensory design elements like thoughtful acoustics and biophilic features, and intuitive layouts all contribute to creating spaces that feel welcoming rather than institutional.
Marisa Galioto from JP Morgan Chase introduced the concept of "productizing the office," treating space as a product that evolves continuously based on testing, piloting, and in-person feedback. The critical question becomes: does the workplace serve the people using it, or is it serving a legacy model?
Organizations that integrate hospitality principles into workplace design report measurable improvements in engagement, satisfaction, and well-being. Sensory design elements reduce stress and enhance focus, while data-driven personalization empowers employees to control their environment, improving both comfort and productivity.
At Banking Circle's London headquarters, Woodalls demonstrated this principle by reimagining the workplace as a service experience. Every touchpoint, from the concierge-style reception to the cafe that doubles as an informal meeting hub, was designed to make people feel considered. The result was a space that blurred the boundaries between office and hospitality, creating a sense of ease and belonging.
Sociability: Engineering Connection
One of the most pervasive misconceptions in workplace strategy is that collaboration simply happens when people are in the same room. It doesn't. Sociability must be engineered.
Research shows that spontaneous, face-to-face interactions are among the strongest drivers of team productivity and innovation. Yet poorly executed open plans can actually reduce meaningful interaction. True connection happens when people feel both accessible and at ease, a balance that well-considered spatial and acoustic design can achieve.
Rachel Casanova from Cushman & Wakefield drew a compelling parallel with theatre, arguing that the best workplaces, like great performances, evolve through iteration, feedback, and audience insight. They adapt continuously to sustain engagement and energy.
The most magnetic workplaces aren't built for attendance. They're built for belonging. This means creating spaces that enable serendipity, designing collision points where chance encounters spark creativity, and fostering intergenerational connection through reverse mentoring and demographic diversity.
At Kantar's London headquarters, Woodalls transformed a traditional corporate office into a social ecosystem built around connection and creativity. The design introduced open, hospitality-style lounges, cafe zones, and flexible collaboration hubs strategically positioned to make interaction effortless. The result? A steady rise in voluntary office attendance post-launch, driven not by mandates, but by magnetism.
Flexibility: The Malleable Office
"Flexibility is not a layout. It's a mindset," Rachel Casanova emphasized during our panel. In a world of rapidly changing team structures, hybrid schedules, and technological disruption, static offices quickly become liabilities.
Flexibility spans both design and operations. Different teams and geographies interact with space differently, and design must accommodate these differences. At the portfolio level, strategies such as repositioning, subletting, and adaptable layouts enable organizations to pivot quickly in response to shifting business or technology demands.
"Tech is changing space. If you fail to adapt the environment around that, it becomes irrelevant," noted Marisa Galioto. AI and digital workflows require adaptive environments to remain relevant and productive.
At MUFG's Amsterdam office, flexibility is embedded into the very fabric of the space. Hybrid work zones include touchdown benches, sit-stand desks, and versatile meeting pods that allow employees to choose how and where they work. Client-facing areas feature folding doors that open for large events or town hall gatherings and close to create intimate meeting spaces when needed. Rather than forcing a single way of working, the office adapts to team rhythms, functions, and culture.
Strategic Imperatives for Workplace Transformation
The Chaos to Catalyst event surfaced several critical insights for organizations navigating workplace transformation:
Engage delivery partners early. Involving construction and project management teams from the beginning reduces risk, aligns strategy, and allows budgets and timelines to be validated before costly changes arise. At Connected, our methodology of integrating strategy, design, and construction from discovery through post-occupancy aligns naturally with this imperative.
Elevate real estate as strategic. Workplace strategy now intersects with talent acquisition, ESG goals, operational efficiency, brand positioning, and organizational resilience. Real estate is a business tool, not a cost center. Ignore it, and you're not just losing square footage; you're losing your people.
Data is the new currency. Occupancy metrics, sentiment tracking, and utilization analysis are essential to justify investments, secure executive buy-in, and measure ROI. As one panelist noted, retailers measure engagement around their displays relentlessly. We need to do the same with workspaces.
Flexibility is the baseline. Static spaces are strategic liabilities. Organizations must design portfolios that can scale, shift, sublet, or be reprogrammed in line with evolving business needs.
Building for What Comes Next
For Connected, these insights shape how we approach workplace projects across our global locations. Our commitment to zero defects and design integrity takes on new meaning when the spaces we deliver must function as destinations of choice. Every detail matters when you're creating environments that compete for attention in an era where employees have genuine alternatives.
The quality of finishes, the thoughtfulness of acoustics, the reliability of technology integration: these aren't luxuries but fundamentals in spaces that must actively earn occupancy. Our early engagement model allows us to work with clients not just on what they're building, but on the deeper question of why the space exists and what behaviors it should enable.
The shift toward workplace as destination represents more than aesthetic evolution. It's a recognition that in a world where knowledge work can happen anywhere, the physical workplace must offer something irreplaceable: the experience of being part of something larger than ourselves, the creativity that emerges from diverse minds in proximity, and the sense of belonging that builds enduring organizational culture.
As we continue to refine our approach to workplace construction, the question we're answering isn't simply "how do we build efficiently?" It's "how do we create spaces that people genuinely want to inhabit?" That's the better way to build the new workplace, with certainty, expertise, and an unwavering focus on the humans who will bring these spaces to life.
The modern workplace is no longer a container for work; it is a platform for connection, engagement, and adaptability. Organizations that prioritize hospitality, sociability, and flexibility, supported by data and strategic foresight, will create environments that attract talent, drive performance, and remain resilient in a rapidly changing world.