Poorly designed spaces cost organisations more than they realise. They reduce efficiency, affect employee wellbeing, increase staff turnover, influence how customers see your business, and quietly limit productivity.
Multi Story Thinking helps organisations design spaces that support people and work effectively. The result is healthier teams, stronger performance, and environments that drive profitability rather than holding it back.
Multi Story Thinking is led by Jonathan Forster, a designer and educator with more than twenty-five years of experience shaping spaces and understanding how people use them.
After graduating with an MA from the Royal College of Art, Jonathan established his first design company in the late nineties. Since then he has worked across a wide range of environments from coffee shops to synagogues, restaurants to homeless shelters, offices to student accommodation. This breadth of experience has shaped a clear belief that the way spaces are designed has a direct impact on how people feel, behave, and perform.
Today Multi Story Thinking works across several sectors with a particular focus on workplace environments, student accommodation, and hospitality. The practice brings together design insight and research into behaviour, helping organisations understand how their spaces are really being used and how they could work better.
A key part of this approach is engaging the people who use the space. through employee engagement toolkits and participatory design methods, organisations can involve their teams in shaping their environment. When people are part of the process the results are more successful, leading to improvements in wellbeing, productivity, and retention.
Alongside practice, Jonathan is award leader for the BA(Hons) Interior Design course at the University of Plymouth. Through his academic work he continues to connect emerging talent with industry while exploring new research into workplace behaviour, design process, and spatial performance.
“The best moment is seeing the transformation of a space and the impact it has on people. It is fantastic when someone tells you how much of a difference the changes in their environment have made to their life.”
Multi Story Thinking helps organisations understand their spaces, improve performance and unlock the hidden value in the environments they use every day