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 ways to work and multiple activities. With little effort or financial investment, a workspace 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.

The 30-minute Vitra Session in early 2022 includes best practices and solutions from leading companies and keynotes by experts from various disciplines and industries. It serves as an introduction to the topic for employees, managers, HR managers, architects and designers. The next step is to discover products and interior solutions for flexible working at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein and at the Vitra Center in Birsfelden: Vitra’s own offices, which can be visited upon request.

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.

For decades, Vitra has responded to transformations in the workplace with products for changing working conditions – guided by its own research in this field. As a result, many of the products used in the new Club Office already existed in the Vitra portfolio, while others were specially conceived to meet the new requirements. The new developments have in common a demand for flexibility and high quality, which allows the post-Covid office to adapt to shifting needs while signalling value and appreciation to its users.

Developments of the past two years have shown that work environments with flexible design and a philosophy of change have a clear advantage. Our e-paper on Dynamic Spaces features expert interviews and best-practices for individuals and organisations.

Understanding that the Vitra team comes to the office with a desire to feel part of a larger whole, because they want to meet their colleagues and seek new knowledge and experiences, Vitra built the Club Office at our head office in Switzerland in spring 2021. The Club’s ‘members’ – consisting of employees from all parts of Vitra as well as the company’s close external partners – encounter a whole range of different spatial scenarios, divided into a public and a semi-public area for informal and formal meetings, workshops and get-togethers. The Club Office in Birsfelden offers numerous different collaborative settings within a small footprint of less than 300 square metres.

If you are interested in planning your own Club Office, sign up below.

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