What exactly is a modern office space like and what are its main focuses?
When working in isolation, it has been shown that, especially after a few months, there is a decline in employee creativity and enthusiasm due to the absence of the main component that pushes employees to think outside their usual boundaries and encourages them to be creative. The office is a place that, in addition to providing space for work, also connects employees and encourages them to develop new ideas through mutual contacts and cooperation. It is a space that strengthens the culture and spirit of the company. For this reason, special attention needs to be paid to designing spaces for unplanned and informal social interactions.
Furthermore, a modern office shows the need to organize all the spaces on one floor. So far, the design on several floors has shown that there is a loss of interaction among employees, which ultimately leads to a weakening of the company's culture. As in the design of cities, in the modern office space the focus is not so much on the work zones (buildings) he owns, which are interchangeable with work from home. The main focus is on creating promenades (streets), zones of random encounters and social interactions, which encourage us to exchange ideas and strengthen creativity. It is important to create a dynamic space that is much more than just a place to work and that allows for different types of gatherings and collaborations. In this sense, the role of architecture is to create the dimensions and suggest the functions of the space itself, while the users are the ones who determine over time what takes place in them. Depending on the way the company works and the current needs of employees, these zones must also enable possible changes in the way they are used. This is the main element of the modern workplace that technology can never replace.
Photo: Reversing Labs_photo Sanja Bistricic and Katarina Cirkovic
Also, when designing a modern office, more and more attention is paid to space users, employees, as individuals with specific functional and emotional needs. All employees are different, and only by meeting their individual needs can we create new innovative products or services. For this reason, office space must be diverse to meet the needs of different employee profiles. To ensure this, at the beginning of the design of each office space, the Brigade organizes a workshop with clients in which a typical cross-section of the company's employees participates.
From the workshop we come to know what the real needs of employees are, which sometimes they themselves are not aware of. From the client we get insight into work processes and current ways of using space, positive characteristics of both the company and the space we always try to keep, but also the parts where it is most necessary to work to ensure employee connectivity and quality and inspiring work. In this design phase, there is sometimes a complete change from the initial requirements of the client and a change in vision of their future space.
In addition, during the process of designing and designing a new office space, it is desirable to organize a presentation for all employees and future users in the space we design for them. In this phase, we can focus on the needs of individuals and enable each employee to contribute to the creation of their new office and thus feel even more part of the whole. By jointly creating space, the growth of the collective identity and the common culture of the company is achieved, which provide the individual with support for staying and quality work.
It follows that a modern office space is not only a work space, but also has a social component - it can encourage and inspire the user. It acts as a social glue for people to come together in the spirit of sharing knowledge and creativity.
Author: Ena Tadej
