What do workplaces look like in the future?

A string of cubicles in an office skyscraper? Or a connected web of workers operating remotely using laptops and cell phones and meeting in a virtual 3-D world?

About 300 corporate real estate professionals gathered uptown Wednesday to learn about the challenges of designing tomorrow's work spaces.

Providing employees with a work space is a seemingly simple concept, but it's one that's becoming more difficult as baby boomers retire and the workforce becomes younger. Technology is also changing how and when people are on the job.

The implications for companies can be huge as corporate real estate costs are typically a firm's second-largest expense behind payroll. Companies spend an average of $8,000 to $12,000 per worker each year providing space, according to the Carolinas chapter of CoreNet Global, which sponsored Wednesday's event. CoreNet Global is a trade group supporting corporate real estate and related professionals and vendors.

"The role the workplace plays in supporting creativity and productivity is now viewed as a strategic asset," speaker Charles Grantham, one of the founders of consulting group, the Work Design Collaborative, told attendees.

Companies typically provide about 250 square feet of space for each worker, according to CoreNet Global. That number may be shrinking.

Years ago, companies would simply construct new buildings if they expected to grow. Now, such a move may not prove cost effective if employees end up working remotely.

Speakers included corporate real estate chiefs for real estate adviser Newmark Knight Frank, technology company Red Hat and sports apparel and footwear giant Adidas Group.

David Lathrop of Steelcase, Inc., who studies the role buildings play in a company, said organizations are starting to use the notion of place differently. Sun Microsystems' newest "building," for example, is a computer server where workers meet virtually, he said.

"It's not about the physical world; it's about the extension of the physical world into the virtual world," he said.

Another emerging trend: advanced teleconferencing to connect workers.

Bank of America Corp., one of the event's sponsors, hosted the group at its new uptown office tower. The greenish, glass rectangle across from the bank's headquarters includes two Cisco "TelePresence" video-conferencing rooms as part of its plan to save on air travel.

The building, which opened this year, includes live trees, floor-to-ceiling windows and personal cooling and heating units in cubicles - amenities geared toward attracting new hires and boosting productivity.

Craig Youst, senior director of global real estate and facilities at Red Hat, stressed the importance of talking with employees to understand what they need. A company also should ask itself if its workplace reflects its culture and brand. "Or is it confusing employees?" he said.

Grantham explained how one client replaced rows of individual cubicles with better-lit, open work areas where team members could interact with one another. Employees praised their bigger work spaces and cheerier decor and said they felt more productive. The company actually shrank each worker's square footage from 200 square feet to 112 square feet and saved $7 million over seven years, Grantham said.

And some companies may need to forget the notion of providing brick-and-mortar spaces from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., speakers said. Younger workers tend to work varied hours, such as at 2 a.m. using a laptop at home, said Adidas Group corporate real estate director Erica Chapman.

But Chapman said not all jobs are suited for a virtual set-up. Some professions, like Adidas' designers, need to be at the company site, interacting with others, she said.

"Not every company or person can work virtually," she said.