Work Culture Festival: CONTROL – The Office as a Control Center, Photo: © Birgit Gebhardt

Oct 27 15:15 Hall 6, Next Stage Radical Impact

The Office as a Control Center: From Administration to Decision-Making. What Can We Learn from the Control Center?

As artificial intelligence increasingly takes over routine processes, the role of the office is fundamentally changing: administration moves into the background, while coordination, control, and decision-making become more important. But which activities will continue to require the full engagement of teams and what kinds of work environments will they need?

At the center of the discussion is how the division of labor between humans and machines can be organized when operational and cognitive responsibility must remain with people.

Using the Lufthansa Group as an example, Christian Most and futurist Birgit Gebhardt explore what it means when 160 people per shift make decisions together and why the office of the future may increasingly resemble a control center.

Photo: © Birgit Gebhardt

Presentation language: German

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Four days. Lots of highlights. And that’s just the start.

The programme is constantly expanding with new talks, panel discussions, workshops and interactive spaces.

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Tuesday Oct 27 Wednesday Oct 28 Thursday Oct 29 Friday Oct 30

Hall 6

Board Stage

Future Perspectives: Welcome to the Work Culture Festival 2026

Co-Founder of Leading Minds & New Work Pioneer

EVP Content Strategy at Material Bank

What AI Can’t Take Off Our Hands: Why Leadership Is Becoming About Relationships in the Age of AI

Professor of Communication Management

The Return of Proximity: Why Innovation Still Needs Place

Director MIT Senseable City Lab & Founder of Carlo Ratti Associati

The Social Office: Rethinking Time, Productivity and Connection at Work

Founder & CEO WORKATHON

Home Field Advantage: Designing Workplaces that Bring People Together

Co-Founder & Principal of Studio O+A

Senior Vice President Workplaces at adidas

Architonic Design Minds at Work: Patrik Schumacher

Principal at ZHA Architects

Values as a Compass: What an Economy That Takes the Future Seriously Looks Like

Professor at Leuphana University, Co-Founder of Scientists4Future & Founder of Mission Wertvoll

Level certification for sustainable office furniture in the US and in Europe: US market, common goals, individual approaches, long-term perspectives

Sustainability Expert & Head of European Level

Director of Health and Sustainability at BIFMA

Next Stage

Imagine Office: Workplaces Worth Commuting To

Senior Expert at Drees & Sommer

Head of Business Innovation macom and Senior Experte at Drees & Sommer

Returning to the Office, but How? How Workspace Design Can Determine the Success of Return-to-Office Strategies

Built Different: How People, Space and Tech Are Reinventing the Bildungscampus in Heilbronn

Managing Director of macom and Associate Partner at Drees & Sommer

Team Lead Vision & Strategy at Schwarz Campus Service

Member of the Management Board at Schwarz Campus Service

The Office as a Control Center: From Administration to Decision-Making. What Can We Learn from the Control Center?

Trend expert and futurologist

Senior Director Digital Operations Optimization at Lufthansa

Spaces of Possibility: Creating Places Where Culture Becomes Visible

Architect at Ippolito Fleitz Group

The Future of Knowledge Work: How Haufe Is Shaping Change

CEO Business Group Haufe

Academy

Imagine Office: Workplaces Worth Commuting To (Workshop)

Head of Business Innovation macom and Senior Experte at Drees & Sommer

Senior Expert at Drees & Sommer

What Is Holding Your Product at the Border? Product Journey: On the Path to Global Approval (Workshop)

Global Head of Technical Expertise in Furniture at TÜV Rheinland

Head of Furniture Business at TÜV Rheinland

Workspace Intelligence: How Can Data Drive Concrete Decisions? (Workshop)

Head of Business Innovation macom and Senior Experte at Drees & Sommer

Specials

Guided themed tour for HR (personalmagazin)

Guided themed tour for HR (personalmagazin)

Future Perspectives: Welcome to the Work Culture Festival 2026

Wolfram Sauer, Robert Thiemann

Work Culture Festival 2026: Welcome, Photo: © IBA

Guided themed tour for HR (personalmagazin)

Guided themed tour

What AI Can’t Take Off Our Hands: Why Leadership Is Becoming About Relationships in the Age of AI

Prof Dr Miriam Meckel

Work Culture Festival 2026: What AI Can’t Take Off Our Hands: Why Leadership Is Becoming About Relationships in the Age of AI, Photo: © Henning Ross

Imagine Office: Workplaces Worth Commuting To

Christian Schweizer & Malte Kopmann

Work Culture Festival 2026: Imagine Office: Workplaces Worth Commuting To, Foto: © Drees & Sommer

The Return of Proximity: Why Innovation Still Needs Place

Carlo Ratti

Work Culture Festival 2026: Human After All: Designing Workplaces in the Age of AI, Photo: © Mattias Nutt

Imagine Office: Workplaces Worth Commuting To (Workshop)

Christian Schweizer & Malte Kopmann

Work Culture Festival 2026: Imagine Office: Workplaces Worth Commuting To (Workshop), Photo: © Drees & Sommer

The Social Office: Rethinking Time, Productivity and Connection at Work

Julia Hobsbawm

Julia Hobsbawm, speaker at the Wherever Whenever – Work Culture Festival 2026. Photo: © Henrietta Photography

Returning to the Office, but How? How Workspace Design Can Determine the Success of Return-to-Office Strategies

Dr Katharina Radermacher

Work Culture Festival 2026: Rückkehr ins Büro – aber wie? Wie Workspace Design über den Erfolg von Return-to-Office-Strategien entscheiden kann, Foto: © Wirtschaftsförderung Kreis Soest

Home Field Advantage: Designing Workplaces that Bring People Together

Primo Orpilla & Christian Dzieia

Work Culture Festival 2026: Home Field Advantage: Designing Workplaces that Bring People Together, Photo: © Christian Dzieia / Primo Orpilla

Built Different: How People, Space and Tech Are Reinventing the Bildungscampus in Heilbronn

Oliver Mack, Carmen Herbig, Florian Ufer & Robert Rathke

Work Culture Festival 2026: Built Different: How People, Space and Tech Are Reinventing the Bildungscampus in Heilbronn, Photo: © Drees & Sommer

Architonic Design Minds at Work: Patrik Schumacher

Patrik Schumacher

Work Culture Festival 2026: Work Culture & Leadership: Architonic talks series, Photo: © Patrik Schumacher

The Office as a Control Center: From Administration to Decision-Making. What Can We Learn from the Control Center?

Birgit Gebhardt & Christian Most

Work Culture Festival: CONTROL – The Office as a Control Center, Photo: © Birgit Gebhardt

Spaces of Possibility: Creating Places Where Culture Becomes Visible

Peter Ippolito

Work Culture Festival 2026: Spaces of Possibility, Photo: © Peter Ippolito

The Future of Knowledge Work: How Haufe Is Shaping Change

Iris Bode

Work Culture Festival 2026: The Future of Knowledge Work: How Haufe Is Shaping Change, Foto: © Iris Bode

Values as a Compass: What an Economy That Takes the Future Seriously Looks Like

Prof Dr Maja Göpel

Work Culture Festival 2026: Values as a Compass: What an Economy That Takes the Future Seriously Looks Like, Photo: © Linda Schäffler

Level certification for sustainable office furniture in the US and in Europe: US market, common goals, individual approaches, long-term perspectives

Steve Kooy & Volker Weßels

Work Culture Festival 2026: Level certification for sustainable office furniture in the US and in Europe: US market, common goals, individual approaches, long-term perspectives, Photos: © Steve Kooy, Carsten Lerp

What Is Holding Your Product at the Border? Product Journey: On the Path to Global Approval (Workshop)

Kai-Uwe Schlegel, Alina Selbach, Corinna Regel & Surprise Guest

Work Culture Festival 2026 - TÜV Rheinland, Photo: © Perplexity

Workspace Intelligence: How Can Data Drive Concrete Decisions? (Workshop)

Christian Schweizer & Artur Wiederkehr

Work Culture Festival 2026: Workspace Intelligence: How Can Data Drive Concrete Decisions? (Workshop), Photo: © Drees & Sommer

Get your ticket here ORGATEC / WW-Festival 2026