HOME/OFFICE

WORKPLACE HUBS

HOME/OFFICE WORKPLACE HUBS

Desired Sensibilities For Place

The simple but powerful concept behind Threshold is that we must stop the fractional approach to solving global issues and collaborate to succeed. And what does success mean? It means Quality of Life for people around the world: Access to affordable food, health care, education, quality employment at living wages, respect for all races, religions, genders — all on a planet that isn’t trying to eradicate us as if we were a virus damaging its ecosystem.

The Effect of COVID-19 on the Office
Regarding traditional office space, the big take-away we learned from COVID-19 was that office workers no longer had to work in centralized locations to do their jobs. That didn’t mean that companies didn’t want their workers to come back to the office once it was deemed safe to do so. On the other hand, as we are now seeing, many workers are not happy with going back to the same old same old. They want something different. Staying at home 24/7 isn’t the answer but going back to their office doesn’t sit well also.

Rethinking floor plans:
We can also rethink floor plans to provide room for people to “breathe” in a more hygienic environment. While many companies are considering ways to de-densify their offices in the short term, there are more permanent ways to achieve this goal by altering building forms. Ultimately, one thing we’ve learned from the isolation we’ve experienced as a result of the pandemic is the degree to which humans are social animals. We value human connection, and we’d like to rejoin our colleagues again — The lessons we learn from this experience help us design environments that promote health and wellness as values that are integrated in our design.

For many employees the questions that still need to be addressed in the short and medium- term are: Where will I work? How safe will I be? Under what conditions will I work? Is it really necessary for me to commute all that way? Can’t I work more locally with a team? Is this work situation right for me? It is good for my health and well-being? Is it good for my family? For my future? Threshold Architects SP and One Planet One People have the collaboration solutions to these questions that help provide the foundation for building Quality of Life. And together we can design and build a better world for everyone.