Discover Germany | Architecture Special
Meeting and working.
Meeting MILANO.
HYBRID OFFICES ARE THE FUTURE
TEXT: JESSICA HOLZHAUSEN PHOTOS: ELIAS HASSOS
The topic home office is rightfully on the agenda, says architect Andreas Notter. He and his colleague Eva Durant are focusing on new ways of working in offices – for a long time only in creative industries, but recently other businesses have discovered this topic as well. “After the pandemic a lot of employees will keep their workspace at home,” states Andreas Notter. The future of work will be determined by hybrid offices: work from home and in the office will be in balance. “It has been shown that both have an advantage and that a switch between locations is the optimal situation.” It is often easier to focus when working at home and the hours are much more flexible. “But what most miss after working alone for a couple of weeks is the immediate contact with colleagues,” says architect Eva Durant about workshop results among others
32 | October 2021 | Issue 86
at Condé Nast. Successful work needs communication and the feeling that everyone is pulling in the same direction. “What the home office can’t fulfil, the office has to provide,” says Notter. At the end of Lockdown Condé Nast decided to offer a completely new office atmosphere instead of waiting, how the professional world might evolve. In the new office the areas for work, creating and living merge into a ‘second home’ for employees. Project work and living areas are sectioned with walnut partitions that allow eye contact with people at the desks, so that nobody feels excluded. “We have developed the concept in collaboration with Condé Nast,” Eva Durant explains. “It’s a stroke of luck to have accompany that has the same views as oneself.” At the beginning there was also the idea to not have
computer desks at all and to focus on the communicative aspects. “But we realized that people still come to the office to concentrate on work,” because they do not have the space or enough technical support at home. Andreas Notter compares it with sports: Some people need the motivation only a team can provide. “The concept proves that changes in the business world show great potential.”
Smart working.
PRODUCTION: ISA LIM AND SAMANTHA TARUVINGA®CONDE NAST GERMANY
The Munich-based architectural office tools off.architecture founded by Eva Durant and Andreas Notter is an expert for new work typologies and has developed a contemporary office concept for the publisher Condé Nast, combining office and home office, work, leisure and communication spaces.