What had already been seen as a growing requirement in the office has gained further relevance as a result of the Covid pandemic: work environments must be easily adaptable to changing situations. This means more than just the addition or removal of workstations. Instead, it signifies the ability to modify environments and their functions.

Work environments with a flexible design bring people, spaces and technology together and adapt to changes in how, where and when work is performed. While technology is an employee’s software, the workplace is their hardware: easily reconfigured by its users, a dynamic space hosts different modes of working and multiple activities. With little effort or financial investment, an office can turn into a workshop space or a meeting room into a waiting zone. Dynamic spaces can be created in any context and are relevant for all sectors: offices and public spaces, educational or health facilities.

Dynamic spaces are particularly suitable for companies that pursue a hybrid approach and want to repurpose their facilities to promote in-person exchange and intermittent collaboration. Accordingly, dynamic spaces can be planned as smaller flexible spaces that enable users to repurpose the room according to their immediate needs or as larger dynamic spaces that support the different phases of project teams. As such, they can be planned as part of an existing office or as a separate workspace detached from the office.

To start small the simplest solution is to create an additional or specific area within an existing work space or educational facility.

A space of 100m2 and a set of flexible products, like a foldable table mounted on castors, stackable chairs and stools, combined with Dancing Walls allow every company to repurpose an environment and create different space typologies.

As a comprehensive solution dynamic spaces provide different space types at the same time and offer the ability to modify whole environments depending on current needs of the project teams – from workspaces to collaboration spaces.

The office furniture system Comma expresses the dynamic spirit of a new generation of entrepreneurs who cannot relate to traditional office layouts and seek to challenge the codes and rules of the twentieth century. They know that work does not have to be performed at the office unless real-life interaction is necessary – whether with people or things. They also know that the world is changing at an accelerating pace: leases are shorter; contractual obligations are fewer; business models are constantly evolving – just like teams and tasks.  Workspaces must be able to adapt to these changes and still provide their teams with a sense of stability, cues of identity and belonging.

Do you need support in planning or redesigning your offices? We look forward to hearing about your project!

Which topics move the world of the office, shared spaces or home and which processes will influence the future of work? In a dedicated series of newspapers about work and current global topics, we invite designers, architects and industry experts to address these themes.