London-based designer Keiichi Matsuda suggests how augmented reality will define the workstation of the future, in a short film that explores the growing obsession with productivity in the workplace.

Called Merger, the four-minute, 360-degree film presents a near-future reality where the virtual and physical worlds have meshed together in the workplace of a young accountant.

Competing with the algorithms that have come to dominate corporate business and have pushed many humans out of the workplace, the accountant has optimised her work environment with gesture-controlled augmented reality interfaces to control every area of her life. This allows her to be "on call" for her clients at all times.

Despite this, she struggles to keep up and eventually decides that the best way to serve her clients is to merge with the system.

"The idea of work will need to change completely"

Matsuda said he hoped the film would trigger a conversation around the contemporary obsession with productivity and efficiency in the face of mass automation.

"We need to restructure our society in a more radical way, where automation becomes an asset instead of a threat," said the designer.

"The idea of work will need to change completely within our lifetimes," he told Dezeen. "The breakthroughs in AI and automation over the last few years are paving the way for mass job losses in the next 10 to 15 years. We have seen this before with 'blue-collar' jobs, but this time it looks like it will be 'white-collar' office jobs that will be hardest hit."

"Ultimate workplace productivity design"

The main character sits at a desk that is the focus of her day-to-day life, with interfaces projected onto the surfaces around her that change throughout the day as she moves through her tasks and activities.

The station is optimised to control her diet and exercise as well as her work. It is even used to organise a date – the one moment during the day when she steps away from her workstation – that goes wrong.

Instead of taking breaks to eat, she drinks a food supplement. Drinking meal replacements such as Huel and Soylent is an idea that has already taken root among the tech community over recent years as a way of reducing the time that an individual needs to spend away from their screen.