Future of Workspaces

The modern office is a complex system that involves dynamic interactions between the design of physical environments and its occupants, serving diverse functionalities and expectations. Office design is shaped by social, economic and technological transformations, as well as organisational interests and individual preferences. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the evolution of office design through a forced large-scale ‘work from home’ experiment. In the post-pandemic time, the conventional ‘office’ concept is being reconsidered as advanced digital technologies have eased location constraints of working, while the term ‘workspace’ has gained prevalence, representing a broader idea of physical and virtual work environments that accommodate hybrid working models. The shift towards hybrid working, as documented in many studies and reports, reflects employees’ desires for flexible work arrangements and employers’ interest in boosting productivity and fostering a positive organisational culture. These evolving dynamics are expected to drive a transformation in workspace design, raising critical questions about the future role of offices and the need for design strategies that emphasise flexibility, occupant well-being and sustainability. This project investigates the workspace design and space planning for the hybrid working setup. It integrates multi-source datasets, including occupancy levels, environmental conditions, spatial structures, human preferences and subjective comfort votes, to develop an evidence-based data-driven design framework. The framework aims to support the creation of physical workspace design strategies that align with emerging demands. A flexible co-working space in London is applied as a contextualised case study.