Workplace structure has always been a key focus for architects. However, when the pandemic struck, the ‘normal’ workplace as we traditionally knew it, became redundant for the masses.
Pre-lockdown, workspace planning was geared towards maximising creativity and productivity within more traditional office environments. Designs were based upon providing ample break-out and innovation zones for office employees - which employers deemed to be essential, to facilitate collaborative working and brainstorming. In more recent years, urban architects have also turned their attention to focusing on solutions designed to cater for the self-employed and individuals, who desired to connect to a larger community, within urban environments.
With the onset of lockdown however, businesses had to adapt, as working-from-home being the ‘new normal.’ Professionals started to re-evaluate a change in some of the previous workplace trends, which consequently led to many businesses questioning the value of a traditional investment in real-estate.
With COVID-19 protocols still currently in place, architects face a new barrage of challenges when planning for the ‘new-normal’ post-COVID world. Workplaces are now required to implement social distancing measures, where conference rooms should be less populated, partitions placed to create space divisions, and sustainable rotating staff schedules to lessen physical interaction in the workplace.
So what does this mean in reality - does this mean that the traditional workplace is now considered a past lifestyle? Are commercial offices no longer sustainable?
Hopeful and optimistic, it is firmly believed that as Britain resumes normality within the coming months, architects and designers will rise to the challenge and create new effective and creative solutions to meet the demands of the post-COVID workspace challenges which lie ahead.
Link: https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/rethinking-office-design-trends-in-a-post-covid-world_o