In the midst of a pandemic – theories of the future office by experienced actors

In March 2020 the covid-19 pandemic was confirmed. Due to the pandemic, many office employees have been forced or have chosen to work from home. Distance work implicated that many office spaces have been left empty, and the future of the office is now questioned. The office has been a place where employees go to fulfill workassignments, meet colleagues and clients. A place that creates space for exchange of experience, interaction and innovative solutions to problems. The pandemic has limited the possibility of physical meetings and to a great extent changed to digital meetings. Even though the concentrated assignments have been successfully practiced from home, the need of physical meetings has been made obvious. The pandemic has resulted in an acceleration of the technical development and the future of the office has been much discussed. The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to examine the needs of the office as a meeting- and workplace after the year of 2020. To investigate the functions of the future office, several people with different work roles and experiences of office development has been interviewed. This bachelor thesis is based on interviews and the results of the respondents own theories and experiences of office trends. The findings in the study reveals that a great office is a place that is optimized for the business and a place that stimulate productivity for every individual. Newly found experiences has led to the conclusion that the office has to develop in the same pace as the technological development. The office needs to be a place for impulses, meetings, exchange of experience and at the same time a place that creates the company’s culture and identity.