Working with Covid: how office design is changing

Architects forecast the features of the office of the future, which will roll out soon as employers reconsider their office needs.

AUTOMATIC doors, hands-free light switches, voice-controlled elevators and architecturally integrated hand sanitiser stations are among the new designs to be swiftly incorporated into offices in the next few years in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

But architects reveal other changes, that have been brewing for the past decade, now are expected to quickly roll out as employers reconsider their office needs.

MORE FRESH AIR

Rooftop or balcony meeting spaces have been popular editions to office buildings but expect most new builds to have them in future.

Unispace design principal Julie Watts says more workers will see the benefits of holding meetings in open air.

“To have more open-space connected to the workplace would be great to get natural air so they’re not relying on the business’s building airconditioning systems for ventilation,” she says.

Stairs also will be better included in designs so workers can choose not to stand confined with others in a lift while travelling between floors.

Matthews Architects managing director Gerald Matthews says access to natural light and outside views also helps improve staff wellbeing.

Architect Gerald Matthews says his office has loud and quiet areas so everyone can be productive in the office. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

MORE MEETING SPACES & FEWER DESKS

Open-plan workstations have been all the rage in office design so far this century but with many staff wanting to remain working from home, Unispace reports up to 30 per cent of office space will become unoccupied.

The total floor space tenanted by businesses is unlikely to decrease, however, as they look to make better use of vacant space.

Watts says offices will be tailored to meet the main reason why staff are in the office – to collaborate.

“We used to have an office with 100 workstations, but we’ll bring other types of work options to work at,” she says.

There will be more stand-up meeting tables and spaces, rooms in which workers can conduct video conferences, and semi-enclosed pods to enable conversations to take place.

“That’s what we’re missing (working from home) – we’re missing interaction as a group.”

Sydney-based advertising agency Paper Moose chief commercial officer Joshua Flowers says face-to-face human contact is key for many elements of its work.

It already had a large open-plan office with meeting areas pre-Covid, but has made some upgrades since.

“This office design allows us to space people out generously and provide plenty of natural air and light,” he says.

“The open-plan format also means we can move desks around easily as needed, which has been important during Covid.

“We also installed upgraded air filtration systems and stepped up our cleaning regimes.

“Each of the meeting rooms has full video conferencing capabilities, so we’re able to switch to remote working at a moment’s notice.”

Jason Fidel, Madeleine Huxley, Maren Smith, Graham van der Westhuizen and Isabella Torv pictured at Paper Moose, which has lots of natural light. Picture: Toby Zerna

NEW COMMUNAL AREAS

Matthews says working from home is detrimental to health over a long period of time and human-to-human connection is good for physical and mental wellbeing.

Working areas will be open to encourage social and professional interaction, and ensure people are not cooped up together.

“The things that keep coming up is to do with the social connection that goes with work,” he says.

“Not only the emotional support … but the support that you get from colleagues that can’t really be delivered as fluidly or as well when you’re not face-to-face.

“That’s not necessarily that, ‘if you have a problem, please talk about it’, but if you wanted to talk about it, you could.

“The idea that there are people around you that you just work with, even if they can’t help or there’s nothing to say – the connection makes a difference.”

His office has established loud and quiet areas where people can choose to sit and work, with quiet areas for reading or concentration, and loud areas for phone calls.

But if workers concentrate better in the loud area, they can choose to work there.

“The sound of music is something that we’ve personally experimented with in the past year,” he says.

“Depending on what people are working on, sometimes the right music can really help.”

Graham van der Westhuizen, Maren Smith, Jason Fidel and Madeleine Huxley at their Paper Moose workplace. Picture: Toby Zerna

BUT YOU’LL STILL HAVE A DESK

Workers still want a space of their own.

Desks will enable people to sit and work, although hot desking or sharing a desk on the same day will be discouraged.

“In any workforce, people need to have a sense of, ‘this is my place’,” Matthews says.

“It might be just a locker or a desk or an office but it’s something that’s exclusively theirs.”

He says no one goes to work and does one thing, and some work is suited to a desk.

“Everyone has a job that requires them to do lots of different things (and) we’ll have office environments that suit what you’re doing now,” he says.

Paper Moose account manager Madeleine Huxley enjoys having options of where to work in the office.

“This office is a really great space to work in, it’s flooded with natural light and the double height ceiling gives it an airy feel, like a New York loft warehouse,” she says.

“We have flexibility in where we work within the office – everyone has a designated desk but we have lots of communal spaces and break out rooms where you can set up easily.”

Outdoor walking meetings are becoming more popular. Picture: iStock

BEYOND THE OFFICE

Matthews says many organisations now look for office space with a coffee shop nearby, as it is recognised as a workspace or meeting space for non-confidential conversations.

Walking meetings, in which staff stroll around the neighbourhood discussing work problems or projects, also are increasing in popularity, so offices with parks or walking trails nearby are sought after.

“For internal meetings, if we have two or three of us – it tends not to work with more than three people – we walk out the door, go for a walk and come back, that’s nice for wellbeing,” he says.

“At first, you think, ‘what if you need to write something down?’. But you write anything down when you get back.

“In a one-hour conversation, you tend to resolve a lot of stuff.”

Watts says organisations may downsize or close CBD locations in favour of opening a few smaller premises in suburbs, so staff can avoid long commutes.

“If you had a very large firm, there would be options to spread the workforce more so people don’t have to travel so far,” she says.

“If the organisation is looking towards sustainability, they don’t have their people all moving and travelling so far into the central zone.”

Originally published as Working with Covid: how office design is changing