Futureproofing the Workplace: Inside the Offices of 2050
Geyer Valmont CEO Marcel Zalloua explains how AI, data and design intelligence are reshaping today’s commercial spaces so they remain fit for purpose in 2050 and beyond.
3 min
As companies rethink how their offices should function in an age of rapid tech shifts, Geyer Valmont is spending its time reworking the buildings we already have.
CEO Marcel Zalloua says most of the structures dominating our skylines will still be here in 2050, but the way we use them will look nothing like today.
In this Q and A, he breaks down how AI, data and smarter design are set to transform the workplace.
Q: How are businesses futureproofing offices and buildings for 2050?
A: When we think about the future of the commercial building environment, it’s interesting to note that in 2050, most of the buildings making up our current horizon will still be standing, however what’s inside them will be completely transformed.
When we talk about future proofing commercial office spaces, our job really is to reshape the existing built world so that it continues to be fit for purpose, and incorporates infrastructure and design that enables our future state.
At Geyer Valmont, our remit is primarily to reimagine and redesign current spaces to be smarter, more sustainable and more efficient.
Q: How is technology influencing the way companies design and manage their office spaces, and how do you see this evolving in the next few years?
A: Offices are growing increasingly complex, incorporating new technologies, spaces and tools which continue to challenge traditional office design.
At the same time, technology has dramatically changed how we can enhance increasingly available data, to leverage many years of design intelligence, streamline processes and optimise performance.
This abundance of data has unlocked the ability to utilise new forms of technology that help companies visualise, simulate and redesign spaces with greater agility.
At Geyer Valmont, we’re using these technology advances to create new tools that can simulate office layouts, like our recently launched GVi tool.
GVi is an AI-powered ‘digital twin’ platform that can test design changes in real-time and forecast how spaces will perform before clients have to commit committing to physical adjustments, turning risk into evidence.
As Geyer Valmont is a fully integrated design and construction firm, GVi was developed as a critical tool to streamline the complexity of this process into one platform, and one simple, easy to use interface.
Our clients now only need to focus on their needs and the design outcome, as the delivery programme and costs are automatically calculated through the tool.
In the coming years, we expect AI to continue to play a deeper role in office design, taking the rapidly evolving needs of the business into consideration and helping companies accelerate the design process, with cost savings and efficiencies along the way.
Q: In 2026 and beyond, how do you see client expectations from their physical workplaces evolving?
The physical workplace is no longer just a place to work and meet, it can actively shape culture and performance through hyper-personalisation driven through AI tools and data.
As AI continues evolving, physical workplaces will too. AI will be used as a predictive tool to adapt to human needs in real time, using real data – lowering risk and recommending improvements.
This has the dual use of tailoring environments to individual preferences, for example lighting and temperature, as well as driving efficiencies for the business.
We believe that AI is a tool that should be embraced to streamline processes, as it enables us to spend more time with our clients, getting to know their businesses, so we can ensure we get under the hood of their operations to deliver workplace solutions that are right for now and for the future.
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All three vehicles will form part of a broader charitable initiative benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the American Red Cross and Starlight Children’s Foundation
Jack Freeman believes the most compelling interiors are not decorated, but collected. The FREEMAN & CO founder creates layered, personal spaces shaped by art, travel and craftsmanship.
4 min
For Jack Freeman, a compelling interior should not look as though it was completed in a single shopping trip.
The founder and designer behind FREEMAN & CO prefers rooms that develop through art, travel, commissioned furniture and objects collected over time. It is an approach that treats the home less as a decorative project and more as an evolving portrait of its owner.
“I am a true believer in collecting versus decorating,” Freeman says.
That distinction underpins the international practice he has built across private residences, hotels, property developments, yachts and private aviation. Its projects stretch from Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay and Toorak to Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean.
Although the locations and architecture vary considerably, the work is connected by a restrained design language. Natural stone, warm timbers and sculptural furniture establish the foundation, while art, bespoke lighting and individual objects give each interior its identity.
The objective is not to overwhelm a room with obvious symbols of expense. It is to create an environment that feels calm, layered and particular to the people living within it.
“The greatest luxury isn’t about excess,” Freeman says. “It’s about creating an oasis where you come home and feel immediately grounded — effortlessly chic and deeply personal.”
Collecting instead of decorating
Decorating can imply the completion of a room: selecting the required furniture, filling the available walls and producing a coherent finished image.
Collecting is less conclusive.
A collected interior has room to change as its owners travel, discover artists, inherit pieces or reassess how they use their home. Its character comes from the relationship between objects rather than adherence to a single brand or season.
That does not mean placing unrelated pieces together without discipline. The designer must understand scale, proportion, material and provenance well enough to create a dialogue between them.
A contemporary artwork might sit beside a historic piece of furniture. A precisely detailed new interior may be interrupted by an irregular object made by hand. Smooth stone can be balanced by timber, textiles or a patinated metal surface that becomes richer with age.
The tension between those elements is part of the appeal.
For Freeman, art is not an accessory to be added once the furniture plan is complete. It forms part of the architecture and atmosphere of the room from the beginning.
Lighting is considered in the same way. Beyond its practical purpose, a bespoke fitting can operate as a suspended sculpture, changing both the room’s composition and the way its materials are experienced after dark.
A design perspective shaped by travel
International travel plays a significant role in Freeman’s creative process.
Design fairs such as PAD Paris and Salone del Mobile in Milan provide opportunities to encounter emerging designers, established galleries, new materials and collectible furniture away from the filter of social media.
More spontaneous discoveries can prove equally important.
“Sometimes it’s the simple things,” Freeman says. “That piece found on a shopping trip with a client in Paris, stumbling across an artisan’s workshop, or a special memory that forms the narrative of the story.”
Objects selected during travel bring more than visual interest into a home. They carry an association with a place, maker or experience, giving the client a connection that cannot be reproduced by ordering an entire interior from a catalogue.
Freeman’s influences are international, but his projects are not conceived as replicas of Parisian, Milanese or Californian style. Each commission responds to its architecture, setting, natural light and the daily lives of its occupants.
A waterfront Sydney residence demands a different treatment from a Mayfair townhouse. A Caribbean estate shaped by brutalist architecture and reflecting pools calls for another response again.
The designer’s role is to absorb those references without allowing them to overwhelm the individual qualities of the property.
Designing the complete experience
FREEMAN & CO extends beyond conventional interior decoration.
The practice’s stated services include interior design and architecture, project management, property acquisition, development advice, concept design, documentation, furniture and lighting design, procurement and art curation.
That breadth allows the team to become involved before a room’s dimensions and finishes are fixed.
Early participation can be important at the top end of the residential market, where architecture, landscape, interiors, technology and art must operate as one environment. Decisions about ceiling heights, wall dimensions, sightlines and lighting can directly affect where art is installed or how custom furniture is proportioned.
The practice can then carry those decisions through to procurement and final installation, maintaining the design narrative as a project moves between architects, builders, specialist craftspeople, dealers and suppliers.
Its residential portfolio includes a South Coast retreat conceived as an escape from urban life, a Caribbean estate with reflecting pools, an East Coast-inspired Palm Beach residence and a Mayfair townhouse organised around an expressive drawing room.
The studio also says it has worked on highly tailored Sydney residences with values exceeding $100 million, although the private nature of such commissions means individual addresses and clients are not always disclosed.
A home that can keep changing
The risk in creating a perfectly resolved interior is that it can become too static — a composition that looks exceptional in photographs but leaves little room for life.
Freeman sees the home as something that should evolve with its owners.
“I love the evolution of design,” he says. “We are talking about people’s lives, and as they evolve, so too should their private sanctuaries.”
That evolution might involve adding art, reupholstering a significant piece, adapting rooms as a family changes or making space for objects gathered through future travels.
The original design needs to be strong enough to accommodate those layers.
This may be the clearest expression of Freeman’s approach to luxury. It is not simply access to rare stone, collectible furniture or commissioned craftsmanship. It is the creation of a personal environment whose meaning deepens rather than diminishes with time.
Fact box
- Designer: Jack Freeman
- Role: Founder and managing director
- Practice: FREEMAN & CO
- Base: Australia, with international projects
- Project locations named by the practice: Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay, Toorak, Palm Beach, the NSW South Coast, Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean
- Sectors: Private residences, hotels, residential developments, private aviation and superyachts
- Services: Interior design and architecture, property development, project management, property acquisition, documentation, furniture and lighting design, FF&E procurement, interior dressing and art curation
- Design philosophy: Collected, personal interiors shaped by art, craftsmanship, travel and enduring materials
- Website: free-man.co
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