A new generation of libertarian offices after the pandemic

While the Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly affected every aspect of life, busy business life has also been affected in many ways. Changes were made to work plans to reduce contact during the pandemic. Most companies have adopted working from home instead of the office or switched to a hybrid system, enabling their employees to avoid contact in the office and during transportation to the office. With the work-from-home system, employees are freed from the obligation to spend all day in the office. How will the new generation offices be shaped in these days when cases are gradually decreasing and we are slowly starting to return to offices? After the freedom to work from home, how will the return to closed offices with social contact create changes in office systems?

Yeni Dönemde Ofisler İçin Değişen Kriterler

Currently, Covid-19 measures are among the most important criteria for offices all over the world. In this process, the questions of how the ideal office design should be for the renovated offices, which working system should be adopted and which innovations should be made to protect the health of the employees are at the forefront. The solutions offered are basically aimed at increasing social distancing or social isolation. The new generation office approach aims for employees to spend less time together and maintain social distancing.

Although the work-at-home model is seen as one of the most appropriate solutions to this problem, the necessity of going to the office, working as a team and having face-to-face dialog as part of the job should not be overlooked. At this point, sharing the office and teams using the office on different days can be a healthy practice as it will reduce the number of people in the office and increase social distancing. By taking advantage of new technologies that provide security control, time tracking and contactless access at office entrances and exits, the intensity in the office can be reduced with more flexible working hours. In addition to these, ensuring that offices have natural ventilation with openable window systems and providing solutions to minimize contact in common areas such as toilets and kitchens are among the valid criteria for post-pandemic offices. In line with all these expectations, new generation offices continue to be designed and changed with the pandemic and its after-effects in mind.

What new regulations should be included in office designs in the post-pandemic period?

Before the pandemic, offices mostly preferred open-plan designs. Since reducing social contact has become a very valuable criterion after the pandemic, open-plan office practices are no longer possible. At this point, open-plan offices can be planned differently with different options of dividers. Thus, social contact can be reduced by providing personal spaces for each employee.

Altınbölme, Alnoplan modular glass partition systems, seem to be the ideal choice for new generation office systems. By trying to capture the spacious effect in the open plan with Alnoplan glass partition systems, the dialog between employees through eye contact will not be restricted. The fact that the partitions can be retrofitted to the office and can be removed at any time is another method that is in line with the uncertain pandemic. Ceiling-supported divider panels can be preferred as movable or fixed, providing office plans that can keep up with the changing working structure. An effective solution would be to have personalized desks in offices instead of large desks that can be used by many people, and to raise the separators between desks in the office.

Apart from social distancing, reducing the number of surfaces in contact in the office is also an important factor for a healthy environment. Contact should be minimized by using sensor systems on doors, elevators and in common areas such as toilets and kitchens. The fact that the personalized areas provided with dividers/ partitions have photocell doors will also minimize contact in the circulation within the office. Providing entry and exit to the cabin without contact by using products that open with the hand sensor and foot pedal of AltınbölmeCubicle partition systems in toilet doors and fixtures will effectively prevent the spread of the virus.

The risk of contamination can be reduced by choosing easy-to-clean, kompakt, sterile and durable materials for contact points on the floor, countertop and wall. With divider panels and contactless solutions, you can re-plan your offices in the post-pandemic process with Altınbölme's product groups suitable for every area of your offices and you can keep up with the uncertainty of the process with the variable office setups provided by movable panels.