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md Mag 10.2018

The Future of the Office – Frank Dittel in conversation with md.

Normal work practices and decision-making processes are changing and this plays a major role with respect to the interior design of office buildings. It’s a challenge for architects and interior designers alike. Frank Dittel in conversation with md.

Digital tools in the office have allowed work processes, data collection and communication to become more simplified. Communication-related changes in particular have had a strong influence on established decision-making approaches. After all, regardless of hierarchies, every employee can easily communicate throughout the world via e-mail. These are also reasons why our working environments have undergone very dynamic developments in recent years. In addition, there are other factors involved: Due to today’s full employment, employees have become a valuable resource in which sustainable investments are made. In competing for the best employees, even renowned companies have had to offer their employees more than a good salary and a nice company car. What does this entail for architects? Are they able to find convincing answers to workplace-related changes?

Flexibility and sharing: The multi-space working environment for the Husqvarna Group in Ulm, Germany, combines a multitude of office functions in the same room. ©DITTEL ARCHITEKTEN GMBH

We talked about this with Frank Dittel, owner of the Stuttgart-based architecture firm DIA – Dittel Architekten. »Employers have understood that it is a matter of developing an office and working environment in which employees do not act as vicarious agents for the company’s pre-formulated goals,« explained Frank Dittel. Rather, they must offer workspaces that enable employees to identify with their own company. »Creativity and a degree of entrepreneurial thinking are demanded of the employee. For this, they need a suitable, supportive environment that reflects professional structures, supports communication and facilitates internal discourse.«

A high-quality working atmosphere

Due to digitalization and the many technical devices that can be used on the move, the owner of the Stuttgart-based architecture firm DIA expects that in the future, employees will be less tied to one place than ever before. »They can carry out their work where they find the best professional environment.« Although the office as a spatial construct will not become obsolete in the near future, »it cannot maintain its historical value for communicative exchange in social and corporate environments.« DIA sees it as an opportunity to create flexible working environments with a high-quality atmosphere that give employees the opportunity to work where they want. »They need a place that strongly values social interaction with the team,« explained Dittel. This also fosters the important aspect of identifying with the company. »The office remains the basis for a working environment that brings with it a strong need for information. It’s a place where individuals can exchange ideas and check and align their information while in dialogue with company hierarchies and colleagues.« In the office, employees are offered a socially important entrepreneurial framework in which they are happy to stay and receive support.

ISDB’s combination offices in Friedrichshafen,Germany, symbolize the company’s dynamism and openness in terms of material quality, form and color. ©DITTEL ARCHITEKTEN GMBH

Flexible space concepts

Frank Dittel, however, finds it important to offer every employee the option of bringing their private environment into the picture when it’s suitable. After all, nowadays it’s expected that they be very flexible with their time. As an established blueprint, he points to the hotel industry. In the past, there were areas such as the reception desk, a lobby and a breakfast room; these were only fully used at peak times and during other parts of the day they could be completely quiet. »Today, these single-use spaces have become rare,« affirmed Dittel. Modern hotel architecture offers rooms and spaces that can have various uses, such as temporary restaurants, meeting areas and places for networking. The Stuttgart-based architecture firm has found that »from a business point of view, the hotel industry needs rooms that can serve different purposes and be assigned with individual layers in order to achieve optimum space utilization.«

The need for flexibility – while considering economic efficiency – can apply to companies: »Globally active brands often set up in-house startups. These should develop without typical corporate structures, guidelines and hierarchies influencing them.« In this way, constraints that limit diverse ideas and creativity are reduced or even avoided. »New ideas can therefore be developed and introduced into a company as soon as they are mature and work,« observed Dittel. This also reduces the entrepreneurial risk of failure. These factors are changing the interior design of our working environments. »The equipment can become more flexible and – in the sense of concentrating on the essentials – more rudimentary, without affecting the atmosphere,« suggested Dittel. In extreme cases, an office environment consists of a few pieces of furniture and graffiti on the wall; it has a very cool look. md readers may remember the ‘Iconweb’ project by Nan Arquitectos (md 10.2017), which incorporated many of the elements depicted here. When planning new working environments, it is important to strike the right balance between space efficiency, functionality and quality. The latter includes a high design standard and an adequate spatial standard »which larger companies will always reliably formulate and implement with the appropriate means,« stated a confident Mr. Dittel. He then added: »They will rely on high-quality materials and good infrastructure as well as standards such as daylight, light supply and good room acoustics.«

Go to the article

Source: md Mag office
Author: Rolf Mauer

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