The Future is Deskless?
Sitting has its perks, of course, but there are downsides to too much sitting. Studies have found that sitting more than several hours a day can make us more prone to certain health risks. Enter the standing desks and even those absurd treadmill desks that have garnered quite a bit of revelry. But what about no desk?
That’s right, folks, the future is apparently going to be deskless.
Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances (RAAAF) and Barbara Visser are proposing a seatless future in a video and model they’ve built in Amsterdam called “The End of Sitting,” which they say is “an installation at the crossroads of visual art, architecture, philosophy and empirical science.”
From the RAAAF website: “In our society almost the entirety of our surroundings have been designed for sitting, while evidence from medical research suggests that too much sitting has adverse health effects,” the group notes, that it has “developed a concept wherein the chair and desk are no longer unquestionable starting points. Instead, the installation’s various affordances solicit visitors to explore different standing positions in an experimental work landscape. The End of Sitting marks the beginning of an experimental trial phase, exploring the possibilities of radical change for the working environment.”
It looks quite Sci-fi; modular panel like pieces that you lean, stand at and yes, do a little sitting on as well. But there are no carpeted cubby cubes or bulky uncomfortable office chairs that never seem to feel right.
What do we need desks for anyway? It’s not like most office workers are writing or stapling their days away, right? A laptop and a nice place to lean might not be a bad idea. Plus, you have the freedom to move around the modules as your body sees fit, which feels not only more ergonomic but better for your mental space too. Sometimes just being “stuck” at a desk can really feel claustrophobic and bulky, which as everyone knows, is not how the future is going to look. Seems like we’re finally catching up to Sci-fi and the minimalist future long predicted. Now, all we need are the shiny metallic jumpsuits and robot maids.
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