Where do you spend your 9-5? Are you in an open plan space, wondering who can see you taking a twitter break, or in a cubicle unable to see beyond the fake walls? Maybe you’ve moved your self-employed self into a local cafe, where a soya-latte awaits every morning, or maybe you’ve turned your kitchen table into a desk; maybe you’re a techie and work from a lazy bag. Either way, do you ever think about how where you work influences other spheres of your everyday?

That’s what this year’s London Festival of Architecture is all about: the work, the workplace and the societal shifts they can spur on. There’ll be talk of the future with Google and Cloud Arch Studio, talk of inactivity (sleeping pods included), talk of co-working spaces and (yes) even talk of coffee shops with Not to Scale Collective. In total, there will be 220 different events; before all that, we talked to festival’s Programme Manager Lara Kinneir.

Run Riot: What guided your decision to centre the festival around work and the workplace?

Lara Kinneir: London is brimming with a huge variety of workers and workplaces. From surgeons to construction workers, start up hubs and high streets, the city’s richness is built upon this coming together of different people, skills and places of work. It is a city that is constantly growing and adapting to new types of work and new industries, with interest from global and local sources.

With Soho’s world leading 3D film work, minutes from the global financial epicentre, Tech City, the digital capital of Europe and the chosen home of over 700 tech and digital companies, alongside financial, cultural and industrial districts, these centres of innovation, manufacture and skilled workforces abound in London.

But, we need to work out how they can best work in the city, and what sort of spaces they need to thrive, grow and be sustained. This is why we chose the theme of “Work in Progress” this year. It’s a poignant time to consider how industry can be sustained and supported alongside welcoming new digital industries and collective workplaces, and address the need for new thinking about workspace that can sustain a growing workforce, and positively compliment other uses such as living space.

Run Riot: What would your ideal workplace be and look like?

Lara Kinneir: Somewhere ‘connected’ to reality, whether through a view of the city or through interaction with everyday life and people.

One of the most enjoyable places I have worked was in an old goods yard in South London. Each office had their own space linked by the communal yard that contained the shared facilities. You could stop by the filmmaker, model maker, architects, and sword maker (the oldest in London apparently) for a casual chat, or to discuss project collaboration. This was an inspiring environment.

The most spectacular work environment was Niemeyer’s Edificio Copan, in Sao Paulo. Casting your view across the metropolis, you were continually speculating on the large and small-scale issues in front of you that challenged the design process and possible impact of any project. Being able to see and experience who and what you are trying to design for is crucial. Design thinking can bring a solution to some of the issues in the real world, but it has to connect with it in order to respond successfully.

Run Riot: This year’s festival explores the past and the future of the workplace. What do you think have been the most significant changes and shifts in this regard over the last several decades?

Lara Kinneir: Two major changes: the change from cellular to open plan work space (also mirrored in living space). Alongside this the change in digital opportunities means that the way we work has changed dramatically. Think of the speed we correspond with each other, compared to the days of postal communication.

Another interesting aspect is the challenge to formality of work and the presumption that formality is more productive, whereas many sectors are seeing a need for informality.

Run Riot: Can you tell us how the festival will engage with the notion and nature of public space?

Lara Kinneir: The festival is an opportunity for speculation, public debate and new ideas. Public space is one of the big topics in the built environment- what is public, what can the public do in public space, what is its value, how much should we have? These aspects are reflected in many of the events that have been created for the festival this year, linked with the theme of “Work in Progress”.

Run Riot: We’re talking (sort of) on election day. Can you tell us what workplace related policy you’d like to see passed?

Lara Kinneir: There are three things I would like to see addressed. 1- The pay-gap: it is totally unacceptable that in 2015 we still have such uneven pay between males and females in the same role. 2 – Paternity leave: there have been major and positive changes suggested by all parties, I hope they are delivered. 3- SME support and skills training: Despite all the coverage and information available, there is a surprising amount that SME’s still need to research and find out in order to set up and sustain their business (I say this having recently set up an SME). More information needs to be about the nuts and bolts of setting up a business, rather than just the opportunity.

Run Riot: Finally, with so much to see at the festival, how about some tailored recommendations for our readers - the students, the architects, the artists, the open-plan office or cubicle workers?

Lara Kinneir:

Come Together: Reinventing the Arts Centre

29^th June 2015, 7-9pm

Barbican

London’s premier arts centres are currently considering major transformations of their built fabric.   Come Together: Reinventing the Arts Centre offers an opportunity to interrogate the goals and methods underpinning this dramatic expansion of London’s arts infrastructure.   Speakers will address ways in which the post-war model of arts centres is being challenged by new forms of artistic production, by institutional ambitions to engage a broader and more widely dispersed audience and by diminishing state subsidy.  They will also consider whether conjoining multiple arts institutions on a single site remains the best means of capitalising on their urban regeneration potential.

EXHIBITION

The Future of Work, details tbc

The Future of Work is an interactive exhibition being designed by Google and Cloud Arch Studio in Mountain View, California. The exhibit explores what the workplace might look like in 2020 as the result of dynamic forces in technology, architecture, culture, and our urban environment. We propose bringing elements of this exhibit to Google’s London campus in June for the 2015 London Festival of Architecture. This exhibit will be roughly 100 sqm and will feature cardboard structures with projections, screens, models, posters, and NFC-enabled interactions as part of a self-guided 10-minute app tour through “a day in the life” of a 2020 knowledge worker. Exhibit features include rendered experiences of work on-the-go in self-driving cars or public transportation, nomadic working, and innovative office environments, as well as hands-on experiences with augmented reality and immersive VR wearables. Representatives from Google and Cloud Arch Studio will be available during popular hours to answer questions from the public, and receptions, lectures, and discussions may be hosted in the space.

EXHIBITION

Reclaim London

9-14^th June 2015, 10-6pm

Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, EC2A 3DT

The installation Ubiquitous Unique will feature computer-rendered elevations from one hundred recent planning applications across London which, seen collectively, will challenge claims for the uniqueness of these schemes. Extracts from marketing material and comments from planning officials will also feature.
It will question whether this development model solves London's growing problems. Is the language of 'landmarks', 'iconic', 'stunning views', 'exclusive apartments', and 'award-winning architects' a benign element or integral to the privatisation of public space, the loss of built heritage, the housing crisis and the fragmentation of communities?
The installation will be a hub for new ideas, such as how architects would benefit from a more equal balance of power between developers, the authorities and the public. It is curated by Reclaim London, a new group formed to voice the collective concerns of Londoners about the city's growth while seeking accountability and fairness in the planning process.

FILM

Playtime by Jacques Tati introduced by Alice Rawsthorn

3^rd June 2015, 6.30pm

Royal Institute of British Architects
66 Portland Place, W1B 1AD

As part of the White-collar Tale Film Nights in partnership with RIBA London and Disegno maga-zine, this is a screening of Jacques Tati's 1967 comedy Playtime. Set in a modernist version of Paris, Playtime was remarkable for its vast set – christened Tativille – which anticipated the later rise of office cubicle culture. It is a compelling portrait of the 1960s workspace. Structured in six se-quences, it features Monsieur Hulot, a befuddled Frenchman lost in the new modernity of Paris.
The film is introduced by Alice Rawsthorn, who writes about design in the International New York Times. She is also a columnist for Frieze magazine and an author, whose latest book, the critically acclaimed Hello World: Where Design Meets Life.
TALK

The Working City - Eindhoven, New York and London,

18^th June 2015, 5pm

Purcell Rooms Royal Festival Hall

The Working City - explores the changing face of cities and nature of work, and how in particular, we accommodate employment space in a growing, changing London. Looking at Eindhoven, New York and London, three presentations will offer up exemplars of the changing workspace and regeneration, and a panel also comprising the Greater London Authority and Croydon Council, will debate how to balance the competing needs for land use, while accommodating the type of jobs, industry and infrastructure needed for a healthy, functioning city and economy.

London Festival of Architecture

1-30 June, across London