Donald M. Rattner's Blog

This is the first installment of a series in which I’ll analyze a variety of home offices from the perspective of design psychology, in particular, the effectiveness of interior space to promote creative insight and imagination. Material is drawn from my book  My Creative Space: How to Design...

Offices of Neue Black. Melbourne, Australia. Architecture by B.E. Architecture. Photography by Peter Clarke.

Workplace design and building professionals have responded admirably to the Covid-19 pandemic, advancing a multitude of practical...

A nonprofit organization representing journalists and editors recently approached me with an intriguing proposal: would I write a piece for its quarterly magazine analyzing the design of a home office belonging to one of its members in terms of its effectiveness in promoting mental wellbeing...

Fig. 1: Molo Benchwall. Product designed by Stephanie Forsythe + Todd MacAllen. Vancouver, Canada. 2003. Photography by Molo.

You could be forgiven for thinking that social distancing only recently stormed into the global lexicon in the w...

Living room. Carmichael, California. Architecture and interior design by Mark Dziewulski Architect. Photography by Keith Cronin.

My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation, 48 Science-based Techniques

Home as an engine of creativity has taken on new significance in light of the Covid-19 virus. This is the first of a series of research-backed techniques Ill be sharing during the crisis for shaping the home to achieve peak idea...

Study. Lilyfield, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Architecture by Danny Broe Architect. Interior design assisted by Toby Andrews. Photography by Karina Illovska.

Organizing and decluttering are all the rage these days. For that we can largely thank the present-day titan of tidiness,Marie Kondo, whose KonMari method has fueled several books, a Netflix series, and invigorated an entire industry devoted to helping people maintain control over their physical...

Offices for Github. San Francisco, California. Architecture by Fennie+Mehl. Interior design by Studio Hatch. Photography by Eva Kolenko.

There’s no place like home, Dorothy famously declares at the end of the classic 1939 film Wizard of Oz. Today, we in the design and building industries might be tempted to add “— except for the office.”

For that we can thank the growing influence of resimercial design. A synthesis of commercial and residential elements, resimercial...

Headquarters for the International Olympic Committee. Lausanne, Switzerland. Architectural design and rendering by 3XN. Projected completion 2019.

As a professional involved in workplace design, what do you believe should be the single most important goal of a physical work environment?

If you answered to make people happy, then you’re on to something.

Why is personal happiness so critical? Because when people are happy, they aremore productive,more creative,...

It seems implausible, but your conference room table—and those your firm has very likely designed to or specified for clients—could well be bad for business. Especially if the business in question is creativity-driven, which design firms are by definition, and which most knowledge-based organizations today are as well.

Now, don’t confuse my admonition with the nature of meetings generally. I am not referring to the problems commonly associated with unsuccessful...

Studio. Girona, Spain. Architecture and landscape design by Co Govers and Joana Ramalhete for Zest Architecture. Photography by Jesús Granada.

If you’re a creative professional or artist who works at home either full- or part-time, you en...