“In the future, businesses will create work environments that embrace and celebrate the full spectrum of human emotion, making room for joy in our professional lives. By incorporating collective experiences that evoke emotions, we’ll foster a greater sense of connection, belonging, and meaning at work.”
How about measuring the quality of offices not in workplaces per square metre, but in emotions per square metre, or wonder and awe per floor? The strategic foresight expert from global digital agency VML explained the possibilities of ‘emotioneering’ workplaces on stage. People are looking for emotional experiences, but often don’t find them in their environment. Marie Stafford showed impressive examples from communication, retail and architecture. It has been proven that people spend more time in spaces that evoke emotions. This is also possible and useful in offices. After all, emotions are valuable driving forces and at the same time influence personal well-being. Marie Stafford therefore sees the emotionalisation of workplaces not only as a way of binding employees to a company, but also as a way of contributing to greater resilience and better mental health for users.
A detailed summary of the presentation will be available in the IBA Forum Newsroom in July 2025.
