Abstract
This paper reports on a speculative design project addressing the future workspace. Based on data extrapolation, we assume that by 2048 more people of advanced age will be working in office environments. Consequently, the share of employees suffering from cognitive deficits will significantly increase. Based on this future scenario, a speculative design object has been developed: A cognitive-stimulating desk lamp that could prevent further deterioration of office workers' cognitive abilities through acoustic stimulation. We explore potential technical features of the lamp and address the avoidance of stigmatization and ageism at the workplace. The contribution of the study is twofold: First, the resulting ”behaves-like” prototype represents a possible solution of the problem of cognitive aging at the future workplace. Secondly, the developed artifact “from the future” allows an in-depth discussion of the possible future context and potentially arising problems. In addition, we critically discuss lessons-learned from the applied speculative design method.
Keywords
cognitive aging; future scenarios; speculative design; research through design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.330
Citation
Thoring, K., Kornherr, P., and Kurz, M. (2024) Designing future workspaces for cognitive aging, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.330
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Paper
Included in
Designing future workspaces for cognitive aging
This paper reports on a speculative design project addressing the future workspace. Based on data extrapolation, we assume that by 2048 more people of advanced age will be working in office environments. Consequently, the share of employees suffering from cognitive deficits will significantly increase. Based on this future scenario, a speculative design object has been developed: A cognitive-stimulating desk lamp that could prevent further deterioration of office workers' cognitive abilities through acoustic stimulation. We explore potential technical features of the lamp and address the avoidance of stigmatization and ageism at the workplace. The contribution of the study is twofold: First, the resulting ”behaves-like” prototype represents a possible solution of the problem of cognitive aging at the future workplace. Secondly, the developed artifact “from the future” allows an in-depth discussion of the possible future context and potentially arising problems. In addition, we critically discuss lessons-learned from the applied speculative design method.