A summary by Sophia Faller
Differences Between Posts:
I found it interesting how the first few posts just raved about the open-office and flex office spaces. Clearly, this is the trend for many offices, but then as I continued, it came out that there are other perspectives on this as well. In fact, some research studies found that the open office can be more damaging than the traditional office. If implementing an open office design to your company it is important to take into consideration what kind of work your business does and if this concept will help promote this. Some of the posts talked about offices in general, but then more recent articles spoke about the office post-pandemic and the changes. Although agreeing on some details, they didn’t agree on everything. Some went back to the cubicle-style office in order to incorporate social distancing and health measures. Yet there were others that refused to go back in time with this concept.
Similarities Between Posts:
One of the similarities that stood out to me throughout these blog posts was that the design had to be representative of the kind of work being done in order to be effective. Each post spoke on aspects of office design and what sort of activities it was good for. Almost every single post spoke about creating movement in the office. Whether that be by having various types of workstations in a flex office or putting the printer on the opposite side of the room in a cubicle layout. Pretty much every post also spoke on flexibility and adaptation in the office. Management has come to the agreement that their staff should be given the freedom to do work where they see fit, as long as work gets done and is of high quality. There has been the realization that you don’t have to be at the office to achieve the greatest work. This is what I kept reading and hearing over and over – that office design is ever-evolving and needs to be built on custom order.
My Thoughts:
I chose this topic at the beginning because I’ve always been intrigued by interior design. Although I can’t say I’m very good at it myself. I have just always been fascinated by how others can come up with such unique design concepts and how functional they can be. During those tests in school on the kind of learner you are… I always managed to be an almost equal mix between kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. After reading these articles I can see how the different office types can aid in not only our individual productivity and work but also as a team. Not everyone is going to learn the same, therefore it makes sense that not everyone would be able to do the same work in the same kind of environment. I truly think after seeing the pros and cons for almost every office design out there, I can agree with the posts that the company must truly see what kind of work they do and study the people that work with them in order to achieve the best office space for them. Just like all of us, each office should be unique as well. I complete all my classwork and assignments at the same desk here at home over the last several months. After this assignment, I have found that some assignments are easier than others and it made me think that my “office design” has something to do with that. It will be interesting to test my theory next term, when there might be more in-person classes and learning happening.
Thank you!
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