It’s been almost a year since I last closed an issue of Design STL from the office. These days, my living room is my office. My chair is a reupholstered French fauteuil. My desk is a vintage folding table designed by George Nelson that I share every other week with my 12-year-old son when he’s learning from home. Last March, as the magazine’s Brentwood office was abruptly vacated, none of us had any inkling that almost 12 months later we’d still be logging in from home, our bedrooms, our converted linen closets. The power of technology made the transition more seamless than expected. As days turned into weeks and then into months, we grew accustomed to talking by way of Slack; editing proofs downloaded from Google Drive; and watching as our work calendars populated with Zoom meetings.
As some companies begin to plan for the return of employees to the office, what will the new workplace look and feel like? Will the office evolve to keep up with employees’ fresh perspectives on what constitutes good workplace design? Deputy editor Amanda Woytus explores this phenomenon in her story “Office Space.” Woytus’ interviews with St. Louis–based architects, designers, and business owners challenge us to imagine the office in 2021 and beyond as a place of choice that invites collaboration. “Employers want, it seems, to create spaces that promote an office culture that includes more than productivity,” says Woytus.
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In spite of the challenges we’ve faced in the past year, the March/April issue of Design STL wouldn’t be the same without our coverage of the Architect & Designer Awards competition. The design industry as a whole faced obstacles—longer product lead times, the closing of fabric mills throughout Europe, the need for social distancing—and yet I was thrilled to see so many of our area’s talent complete, photograph, and submit entries in time for this year’s contest. New York–based interior designer Keita Turner, who grew up in St. Louis, served on the ADA judges’ panel this year and shares my assessment. “I saw amazing, amazing projects [in the submissions],” she tells associate editor Samantha Stevenson during their interview for the story “Pillow Talk.” To see those winning submissions for yourself, click here, and be inspired to make your home, or home office, the kind of place you’d want to return to again and again.
