Digital Spontaneity

From Planned Meetings to an Open Office

The architecture of many modern companies invites the employees to an informal exchange with each other. They sit in groups at tables opposite or next to each other and can exchange information directly during work. Often there are visible meeting rooms, a coffee kitchen or a foosball table. If one compares this with working from home, some aspects are omitted: Employees often sit alone at home and there’s no person next to them with whom a spontaneous exchange is possible.

To counteract this, the New Office was developed. The concept is a kind of digital office, whose floor plan is reminiscent of a classic office layout. By using the New Office, employees can take a look at who is present in the office and what their colleagues are currently working on. In addition, there is a digital kitchen and, if necessary, theme-related meeting rooms. As soon as a person enters these rooms, the other employees receive a message that a person wants to chat or needs some feedback.

The New Office is intended to motivate people to exchange information more spontaneously even while working from home. Through the New Office people can move away from the isolated work and return to collaborative work, because creativity often arises from the informal gathering and this leads to new and great ideas.