Travel, Hybrid Work, Resilience and Space

Issue No 43

Welcome to the 43rd issue of my newsletter. The topics I write about are triggered by what I have experienced or thought about during the last seven days. I illustrate some of these stories and share them with you.

I am sharing three stories this week. Am moving home. So do bear with me for another week. Full service will resume soon.

You can subscribe to the newsletter by hitting the subscribe now button below. Thanks in advance for reading.

Traveled after a year

Last week I traveled from Bangalore to Delhi after a year of not stepping out. I was apprehensive and nervous. Yet I was quite excited about the feeling of freedom that comes from being able to go anywhere. I took a morning flight. Bangalore airport was less crowded than what I remember it to be. I had landed up a bit too early to comply with COVID protocols. The security personnel have to scan the boarding cards as you hold it up against a piece of plexiglass … weird.

On the way back from Delhi, the airport looked packed to the brim. The queue to enter the airport itself was daunting. Once inside the airport, the queue to clear security reminded me of crowds at a rock concert. It was packed to the brim.

National Geographic lists the following as trip ideas. Which one has been your most frequent trigger for travel?

There are some great ideas to plan your next holiday (whenever that happens). I was intrigued <click this>

Hybrid Offices

In Delhi I met two of my friends Rajiv and Raghavan. We got talking about a new phenomena that was puzzling many speakers at a gathering of experts who were studying commercial real-estate.

Malls saw dropping footfalls and yet, several retail outlets in the shopping malls report that their revenue is almost back to pre-covid days.

Hypothesis: The mall is no longer a place to simply hangout. People go there when they definitely wish to buy something. A visit to the mall means the consumer knows what they wish to buy.

But there is no doubt that everyone has learned to order everything on the mobile phone. People have been trained in the last one year to be flexible. Yes this week is actually the anniversary of the lockdown in India. Here is a reading to refresh your memory

Will demand for real-estate increase or decrease? With social distancing will offices need more space for employees? Will you have an office with hot desk options or fixed desks for each employee? How will space change the ways of working? Will the hybrid office drive growth in the electrical peripherals? Read this

Flexi-form, the new norm

The world of architecture is getting shaped by children playing Roblox. That is where they are designing clothes for their virtual avatars. They sell those clothes and supplement their bank balance in the metaverse. The money the parents give to them as pocket money gets spent into virtual money and spent in the metaverse. Read this

This behavior seems to be impacting the world of architects. They are having to design for flexi-form buildings. Space, form and usage all come together in great design. Change any one of the three and you see new possibilities. Read this

Resilience

Here is a must read article from the New Yorker. It talks about resilience. Read it

Till we meet at 9:00am next Monday, do tap the heart icon below to let me know you liked this issue. I repeatedly come back to count the hearts. (True confession).

Thanks

Abhijit Bhaduri