The post-pandemic workspace

In light of the current pandemic, the design and sanitation of spaces has been
pushed into the spotlight. People have become hyper-aware of the spaces they occupy
and the surfaces that they touch. Within our homes, we have a certain level of control
over our environment; for the office however, we have little to no control over the
ventilation, sanitation, and other thing which are critical in ensuring a healthy work
environment. Designers from all parts of the world have asked the question “what is the
future of workspace design?” since the early months of community quarantines. Since,
aside from our homes, we spend most of our time at the office.

The emergency response

When the spread of the coronavirus forced nations to implement community

lockdowns at the beginning of the year, most of us were unprepared. People couldn’t go
to work, the shops were closed, companies stopped their operations, and everyone had
to take a pause. Some industries had the proper infrastructure to adapt a work-from-
home set-up. Not everyone was as lucky since people in the service industry,
manufacturing, sales industry, to name a few, had to stop working or were even laid off
by the company. It was a while before the government allowed essential industries to
resume operations and let people go back to work. For those who work in the office, they
had to quickly scale up on the technology they were using. Work had to move to the
digital platform and be accomplished without ever having to go out. As you can imagine,
online sales spiked. Masses of people were buying work tables, office chairs, and
personal computer set-ups. The office workspace became an unused piece of real
estate those first few months, as people got to work from wherever they were situated.

Rethinking workspace design

In the past, pandemics have reshaped the way cities and buildings are designed.
During the 1920’s, the Spanish flu pandemic expedited the application of better sewage
systems throughout the city and better sanitation practices. The coronavirus has had a
similar effect to office design. A great example would be the Bloomberg HQ in London,
designed by Foster + Partners; they used a ventilation system that would take fresh air
from the outside and circulate it within the building. This is the opposite of how most
office buildings are designed, where the air is re-circulated throughout the building.
Office buildings designed to focus on the health and well-being of the user were going to
happen anyway, but the coronavirus pandemic expedited the movement and made
designers rethink the workspace. Everything from the ventilation system to the material
finishes used had to be studied and seen from the perspective of preventing the spread
of the virus. It is an optimistic dialogue between designers because it shows that we can
design better spaces for both people and the environment.