The Green Workplace in 2012: Standing Desks, Home Offices, and the Future of Work

Lloyd Alter
Design / Interior Design
January 2, 2013

Your Office is in Your Pants: Forget the Standing Desk and the Sitting desk, the Future is the No-desk.

credit: My office/ Lloyd Alter

I tried an experiment when I got my new computer that had great battery life and a terrific monitor: do you need a fixed desk at all? I was going to get rid of everything, the file cabinet, the external monitor, the scanner, and do it all on my phone and computer, wherever I wanted. Commenters complained that I was writing an Apple ad, but it was a serious experiment.

I failed. In the end a hard connection is still faster and more dependable than wifi; the scanning programs for the iPhone are not as good as a real flatbed; I still work better with an external monitor. I can't get rid of the desk just yet.