Our Way 2/22 1
CLOSER According to the plan as of now, there´s g
oing to be a new open lounge and meeting space for everyone in the entire group to use, with an inviting staircase leading up to a new conference and meeting department. It’s a major shift from previous office layouts, but the plans may change along the way. “The office must compete with our homes” Christina Bodin Danielsson is a practising architect and consultant as well as a researcher and teacher specialised in human-environment interaction at the School of Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). One of her areas is office design and its impact on individual and group level as well as organisational level. What role does the office play today? “To start with, it’s a matter of loyalty. Working from home loosens the bond between employees and employer. Some employers choose to force their staff to work only in the office, but that rarely ends well. An employer needs to really consider what kind of business they run and what purpose their office needs to serve and then find a good balance between remote work and office-based work. Everyone needs to do that if they want to be able to keep their employees. Look at what’s happened in the USA over the past few years, with ‘the great resignation’, when thousands of people quit their jobs post-Covid, partly due to inflexible remote work policies of some organisations.“ Christina Bodin Danielsson Architect and consultant, KTH The design of the office – how important is that? “For a while now, the design of the office has been important as a way of connecting architecture to the company’s brand, and also strengthening the brand itself. But a well-designed work environment doesn’t only make us feel good, it also makes us more productive, as my research shows. The crucial point is that this is now post-Covid, the first time the environment of the office has to compete with that of our homes, and that’s a rather stiff competition. It is a different ball game, so to speak. The office needs to be able to attract people, and employers need to be able to create a positive spin around coming into the office.” Worklounge Mötescentrum entreplan Jonas Alván Product Manager, AlfaWall Oceanbird “From 2025, everyone working at the joint venture companies AlfaWall PureBallast and AlfaWall Oceanbird, and are currently based in Tumba, will move to new, purpose-built premises in Flemingsberg south of Stockholm, together with Alfa Laval. The new office will be open plan with no designated seating, but with different spaces for activities, including project rooms, conference rooms and individual meeting rooms. We are designing it for interaction – as a collaborative space for our employees. We hope that when people no longer have to come to the office, they will want to come instead.” WALLFAST Fatburen, Stockholm DATUM: REV: Ground floor work lounge. 9 3. BV 4 5 6 7 8 SGS Ekonomi Vakant lokal SGS Ekonomi Marine Marine Fatbursgatan Swedenborgsgatan 4 3 2 OUR WAY 2/2022 19 SKISS: 001 Plan 3 Entré Extern 21-11-19 22-01-13 AH yta Co-Working SIGN: Strategisk Arkitektur 0 1 2 3 4 5 M SKALA 1:100 1 PHOTO: KARIN RÖSE PHOTO: ANNIKA AF KLERCKER