Michael Schneider, Interaction Designer and Audio-visual Technologist at ESI Design, illustrates the value in creating environments filled with surprise and delight for innovation PSFK, the world’s leading provider of innovation insights.

Research shows that educated millennial professionals are moving into more densely populated urban environments both for work opportunities and for quality of life. The energy of cities inherently drives innovation. A recent New York Times article describes a trend of large corporate campuses returning to cities to create a new style of workplace and attract younger talent. On a more distributed scale we see the burgeoning of shared work spaces led by WeWork. In both of these trends, the growth of the sharing economy is key. When people live and work in close proximity, it allows for the efficient sharing of cultural, leisure, social and professional amenities.

Traditional office buildings tend to be more about efficiency than inspiration, favoring cold hard materials that emphasize permanence and stability over the exhilaration of daily life. However, a growing body of research is confirming the emotional toll boring buildings can have and why people who work in well-designed, surprising and delightful environments tend to be happier and healthier. Part of this comes from creating opportunities for unexpected encounters with the spaces we inhabit and with the people within them.

ESI Design has been working with Beacon Capital Partners to design engaging shared spaces on the building level. Over the past four years ESI Design has worked on around thirty “Class A” commercial buildings, giving each one a unique presence and way to dynamically engage with both tenants and the local neighborhood. Each location uses a mix of digital audiovisual media, signage, furniture and lighting to create a unique identity and a space to stop, connect and be inspired.

Read more of this article at PSFK’s blog.