Corporations, design firms, technology, and furniture companies are rethinking the concept of the ‘workplace’ environment and built ‘office’ in an effort to respond to changing characteristics of the workplace. The following report presents a case study, post-occupancy assessment of an architecture firm’s relocation of their corporate headquarters in Dallas, TX. This ethnographic research transpired from September 2013 to February 2014 and included participant observation, employee interviews, and an office-wide employee survey. Applying a user-centered approach, this study sought to identify and understand: 1) the most and least effective design elements, 2) unanticipated user-generated (“un-designed”) elements, 3) how the workplace operates as an environment and system of design elements, and 4) opportunities for continued improvement of their work environment. This study found that HKS ODC successfully increased access to collaborative spaces by increasing the size (i.e. number of square feet, number of rooms), variety of styles (i.e. enclosed rooms, open work surfaces), and distribution of spaces throughout the office environment. An increase in reported public transit commuting from 6.5% at their previous location to 24% at HKS ODC compares to almost five times the national public transit average (5%) and fifteen times the rate of Texas workers (1.6%) and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area (1.5%). This supports the real estate decision and design intent of the office that relocating near public transit would increase use (nearly six times that of reported use at 1919 McKinney, 6.5%). Additional findings and discussion relate to HKS ODC’s design enabling increased access to natural light and improved air quality, increased cross-sector collaboration, increased connection to downtown Dallas and engagement with the larger Dallas architectural community, as well as the open office environment encouraging education between all employee levels. Discrepancies between designed ‘flexibility’ and work away from the desk are explored along with the role of technology to facilitate work without replacing face-to-face interaction. This work also identifies key challenges with the design and employee experience and provides recommendations for addressing areas of concern for continued improvement of the workplace design. Continued user-centered research in the field of workplace design is necessary to assess the effect of current interventions in other office environments for comparison and inform future endeavors.

This study discusses employees’ perception of a rather new and progressive office type, namely the Activity-based Flexible Office, the A-FO. Within this office type, the employee does not have a personal desk, but instead changes workspace depending on the task at hand. The aim of the study was to examine how employees perceive this type of office and their experiences of working within it. In previous research, a model has been created within this field as an attempt towards a theoretical framework, the A-FO-M. Whereas studying this model, we saw some notions not being thoroughly explored, although mentioned in other preceding research. Thus, the need of exploring these aspects further felt vital and therefore, we combined the A-FO-M with other preceding research and created a synthesis with a set off our themes. A qualitative method was chosen and furthermore, a phenomenological approach. This approach suggests examining a certain phenomena, the A-FO in this case, based on the experiences and perceptions of an individual, the employee. Interviews were implemented on a specific company to succeed in reaching our aim. The six interviews completed gave us the empirical results we needed to attain an analysis and thereafter, conclusions. Overall, our findings correspond with the presumptions of the A-FO-M. However, due to Klarna having a certain structure, somewhat differing from the traditional A-FO, the results were contradicting in some cases. The majority of the respondents felt they were able to perform their task without major problems. Some respondents felt that the office made them more open, while others did not feel any impact on their persona in relation to the A-FOs features. Our findings support that the A-FO is a very sociable office type, whereas you constantly meet and interact with people, both known and unknown to you. The respondents appreciate that there is little distance between them and their managers. Additionally, it is found that managers within A-FOs need to have high trust in their employees. Conclusively, some results may be somewhat dependent on the individual and their preferences.

The purpose of the study was to access the individual's experience of job satisfaction in a cellular office compared to a flex-office. The purpose was answered on the basis of the question: how does the experience of job satisfaction look like in work in a cellular office compared to a flex-office? The study is qualitative and uses semi-structured deep interview as method. An abductive approach was chosen to partly have a stable foundation from previous research but also offer opportunities for new findings. The sample consists of people working in an office that has undergone the change from cellular office to flex-office. The interviews have been transcribed in orthographic style and the material has subsequently been coded. After that, the theory-driven material has been thematized after previous research and the data-driven material has been thematized after overall patterns according to thematic analysis. The factors that seem to affect the job satisfaction in cellular office and flex-office are the themes that emerged in the material. In line with previous research, these topics are: Communication, Health, The Change process and Perception of leadership. In addition to these, the material also revealed further factors: Concentration, Privacy and Flexibility. The conclusions of the study clearly show that flex-office is not suitable for the way of working in the investigated workplace. Although there are both pros and cons with both office types, it seems that the negative weighs heavy for flex- office compared to cellular office in all reported factors related to job satisfaction. / Syftet med studien var att komma åt individens upplevelse av arbetstrivsel i cellkontor jämfört med flex-kontor. Syftet besvarades utifrån frågan: hur ser upplevelsen av arbetstrivsel ut vid arbete i ett cellkontor respektive ett flex-kontor? Studien är kvalitativ och använde sig av semi- strukturerad djupintervju som metod. En abduktiv ansats valdes för att delvis ha en stabil grund mot tidigare forskning men också erbjuda möjlighet till nya fynd. Urvalet består av personer som arbetar på ett kontor som genomgått förändringen från cellkontor till flex-kontor. Intervjuerna har transkriberats i ortografisk stil och materialet har sedermera kodats. Därefter har det teoridrivna materialet tematiserats efter tidigare forskning och det datadrivna materialet tematiserats efter övergripande mönster enligt tematisk analys. De faktorer som tycks påverka arbetstrivseln i cellkontor respektive flex-kontor är de teman som framkommit i materialet. I linje med tidigare forskning är dessa teman: Kommunikation, Hälsa, Förändringsprocessen och Uppfattning av ledning. Utöver dessa framkom från materialet även ytterligare faktorer: Koncentration, Avskildhet samt Flexibilitet. Slutsatserna visar tydligt att flex-kontor inte lämpar sig för det arbetssätt som finns på den undersökta arbetsplatsen. Även om det finns både för- och nackdelar med båda kontorstyperna verkar det negativa väga tyngre för flex-kontor jämfört med cellkontor i alla redovisade faktorer med koppling till arbetstrivsel.

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The contemporary office environment is facing new type of challanges both when it comes to be an attractive place for employees and an efficiant, as well as an econommic sustainable space from an employer's perspective. The rapid change of of hybrid ways of working is creating more remote contact with with the physical office. Research points out that there could be social consequences connected to this. This thesis sees the contemporary office as a potential space for enabling contacts between people, normaly not meeting, being in their personal sphere.  The thesis introduces findings connected to research in the field of spatial and urban design as well as architecture, developing a spatial guideline, in how to enable those situations in an office environment.  With help of literature as well as expertise in the field, and an observation of an activity-based office environment different themes is deceted and presented. The outcome of used methods is captured with analyses connected to the connected themes.  Concrete examples in how to enable social contact situations and support informal meetings is visualized in a spatial guideline.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-12-14T12:22:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Débora Nardelli_.pdf: 4898439 bytes, checksum: 907a2956a3838c5a0006e0c33c92c6fa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-14T12:22:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Débora Nardelli_.pdf: 4898439 bytes, checksum: 907a2956a3838c5a0006e0c33c92c6fa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-10 / Nenhuma / É sabido que a maioria das pessoas investe grande parte de seu tempo em ambientes internos, como escritórios, empresas, fábricas etc. Com o surgimento de novas teorias sobre produtividade relacionadas ao ambiente de trabalho e em decorrência de grandes avanços tecnológicos, novos formatos de trabalho surgiram, e, em consequência, novas demandas ligadas ao trabalho se refletiram em necessidade de mudança em novos ambientes e espaços físicos. Com demandas cada vez maiores e com a preocupação com o bem-estar do funcionário, a busca por ambientes flexíveis e por mais escritórios abertos vem se tornando comum com o passar do tempo. Pesquisas mais recentes evidenciam a importância de um ambiente de trabalho flexível e preocupado com o design relacionado ao funcionário, o qual proporciona melhor desempenho, produtividade e satisfação. Assim, constitui-se como objetivo deste trabalho analisar a percepção dos trabalhadores em relação aos escritórios abertos e flexíveis e como esse tipo de escritório pode influenciar a satisfação do usuário. Para tanto, foram selecionadas duas empresas que foram reformuladas de escritórios fechados para escritórios abertos a fim de se analisar a satisfação do funcionário após a reformulação. Posteriormente, realizou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa exploratória em cada empresa e foram realizados questionamentos individuais com oito funcionários de cada empresa, totalizando dezesseis entrevistados, para se analisarem questões relacionadas à satisfação baseada em elementos como desempenho, bem-estar, ruído, interação e autonomia. A pesquisa realizada aponta, com base nas opiniões dos funcionários, que os aspectos positivos e negativos são percebidos de maneiras diferentes entre os funcionários. Alguns percebem as mudanças e as consequências da transição como algo positivo, enquanto outros percebem o contrário. Dessa forma, impossibilita-se uma conclusão clara referente à satisfação. As contribuições que prevalecem desta pesquisa são o aumento do campo de visão, dado pelas informações e pelas análises aqui trazidas, referente à teoria e à prática da satisfação dos funcionários na transição de escritórios fechados para escritórios abertos. / It is known that most people spend the majority of their time in indoor settings, like offices, companies, factories, etc. With the emergence of news theories about productivity related to indoor settings and big technological advances, new formats of work activity emerged and, consequently, new work-related demands reflected that changes of indoor settings and physical spaces is needed. With demands getting bigger and bigger and the concern of the well-being of the employee, the search for flexible and open settings are becoming common with time. Recent studies show that, the importance of a flexible workspace and with design that attends to his need, can improve his productivity, performance and satisfaction. The objective of this work is to analyze the perception of the workers in relation with their newly renovated, open-plan office environment. For that, it was selected two companies that were renovated from a closed-plan office to an open plan office and the employee satisfaction analyzed. After that, an exploratory qualitative research was made in each company, individual questioning was made with eight employee each, totalizing sixteen people interviewed, of which were analyzed questions about their satisfaction based on elements like performance, well-being, noise, interaction and autonomy. The research points out, taking in account the opinions of the employees, that positive or negative aspects can be perceived differently by them. Some perceive that the changes and consequences that occurred in the office by the transition as something positive, and others feel the opposite. And so, making a clear conclusion about the satisfaction impossible. The contributions that prevail from this research it’s the widening of the field of view about this topic, granting it more information and analyses that the research provided relating to the theory and practice of the employees on the transition to closed-plan offices to open-plane ones.

The analysis of METU-Technopolis buildings and their space organizations indicates that there are two kinds of designing and planning tendencies in METU-Tech. One of them is Northern European and other one is North American Type of office which are also known as two important office designing approaches in the world. Northern European and North American Type of office organizations have different approaches in shaping office space. While Northern European type places far more emphasis on using office space to support staff morale and thus to add value to organizational performance, North American type tends to overestimate cost minimizations. These two types of designing tendencies in the world have had enormous effects on METU-Tech building design. While some buildings like Silicon Block and Silver block give importance to functions in space, and cost minimizations, others like Twin Building gives more importance to space quality and occupancy needs. The aim of this study is to introduce these two different kinds of office design approaches in METU-Technopolis by examining Silicon Block, Silver Block and Twin buildings. These buildings have been examined in three main scales which begin with urban design scale, Macro-Scale development, then Middle-Scale development and finally Micro-Scale development and buildings activities in architectural scale. In macro scale, Urban Design Studio&rsquo / s METU-Tech workings, and in middle- micro scale, advantages and disadvantages of these two space organizations manner have been introduced in detail on Silicon Block, Silver Block and Twin Building. Furthermore, all these three building&rsquo / s statistical information, capacities, and design specifications have been presented in drawings, graphics, and photos.

Globaliseringen och omvärldens påverkan av de moderna organisationerna har skapat nya krav och mål för våra svenska arbetsgivare. Flexibilitet och snabba förändringar måste dagens arbetsgivare vara väl anpassad för. Detta i sin tur innebär att även arbetstagaren måste vara redo att klara av liknande krav. Ny teknik och nya sätt att arbeta på har givit den moderna kontorsarbetaren en vardag som kan vara helt papperslös och inte heller knuten till en och samma plats. Det centrala för det nya arbetssättet är självfallet att öka lönsamheten, men fördelar som ökad kreativitet och ökat samarbete medarbetarna emellan lyfts fram som fördelar från arbetsgivarens sida. Denna studie utgår från en kvalitativ ansats. Målet med studien var att fånga medarbetarnas upplevelser av att arbeta aktivitetsbaserat. Studien har inte som avsikt att förklara om detta nya arbetssätt är bra eller dåligt för arbetstagaren utan enbart som för avsikt att fånga deras upplevelse. Studien visar att den generella upplevelsen av att arbeta aktivitetsbaserat är god, men att upplevelserna varierar mellan olika individer. Slutsatsen är att de anställda behöver ha en känsla av att kunna kontrollera sin vardag och möjligheter att välja rätt plats för rätt arbetsuppgift för att detta arbetssätt skall upplevas bra. Studien anser vi har ett värde på grund av att den mäter medarbetarnas upplevelse. Det är något som inte har forskats mycket om tidigare i detta allt mer förekommande sätt att utforma moderna kontor på. Om vi fångar medarbetarnas upplevelse av att arbeta i denna miljö kan vi enklare förstå hur den upplevs och med bättre förutsättningar förbättra arbetsmiljön på sikt i ett samhälle som löpande ställer nya krav på organisationerna och de anställda. / Globalization and the outside world's influence on modern organizations have created new demands and goals for our Swedish employers. Flexibility and rapid changes demand that today's employers must be well-suited for change. This in turn means that the employee must also be ready to meet similar requirements. New technology and new ways of working have given the modern office worker a daily life that can be completely paperless and because of this the employee isn't linked to one specific workstation. The key reason for to the new way of working is to increase profitability, but benefits such as increased creativity and increased cooperation among employees are highlighted as benefits from the employer. This study is based on a qualitative approach. The aim of the study was to capture the employees experiences of working activity-based. The study does not intend to explain whether this new way of working is good or bad for the employee, but only for the purpose of capturing their experience. The study shows that the overall experience of working activity-based is good, but that experiences vary between different individuals. The conclusion is that employees need to have the feeling of being able to control their everyday lives and opportunities to choose the right place for the right task for this work method to be experienced well. The value of this research lies in the fact that because employee experience is something that has not been the center of the research before, and we need to know more about the effects of this increasingly popular way of designing modern offices. If we capture the employee's experience of working in this environment, we can more easily understand how it is perceived and better conditions improve the working environment in the long term in a society that continually places new demands on organizations and employee's.

本論文は，知的照明システムの改良に関わるものであり，従来の課題であった色温度の実現精度の向上と高価な色温度センシング機材を無くす方法ならびにそれらの最適制御法，これまで不明であったシステムがもたらす省エネルギー性に関する詳細な解析方法を提案し，これらの提案手法の有効性を検証するため新たに改良した知的照明システムを用いて実験を行い，それらの手法の有効性を確認した． / An advanced intelligent lighting system has been proposed and introduced to provide a comfortable personal lighting environment for the workplace using the evaluation and biological information of workers. The research studies the appropriate perspectives of using the intelligent lighting system as a solution of the smart design in the office workspace. In the first part, the research paper has utilized the computerized system and the optimization method to generate the lighting automatically instead of using the sensing devices. The second part is related to energy consumption. The illuminance has been distributed based on the individual preference available of each user inside the office. / 博士(工学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University