The built environment in academia is increasingly being used in a strategic way, and there is a current trend in the spatial design of academic workplaces towards the implementation of more flexible solutions. However, the heterogeneity of academic work creates a challenge for workplace design. Previous research has shown that researchers require places supporting both privacy and interaction, and there is a need to increase the understanding of how workplace design can tend to these needs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to increase the understanding of how the built environment in a modern university building affects the occupants’ work environment and possibilities to perform their work. Goffman’s dramaturgical framework was applied in a case study examining the research building Biomedicum at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. One go-along interview and seven semi-structured interviews were carried out and the data were analyzed through content analysis. Three themes named after Goffman’s concepts were identified: the Back stage, the Front stage, and The team. The results showed that while the participant found it easy to identify suitable places for work-related interactions, they had a harder time finding places that supported privacy. In the light of Goffman’s dramaturgy, the results indicated that while the front stage had been successfully planned and built into Biomedicum, there was a lack of a back stage area. The findings of the study showed the importance of including different types of back stage areas in the design of academic workplaces to facilitate both privacy and interaction. In the design of the back stage, architectural and psychological privacy, as well as proximity to team members were important spatial features to acknowledge.

The aim of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of how frameworks of learning have shifted from a physical to a digital approach during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, many societies have suffered substantial setbacks for instance the closing down of several institutions such as universities. Consequently, universities around the world adapted to a digital approach for teaching and learning, and, as a result, teachers and students were required to familiarise themselves with new digital techniques. The pandemic has forced a paradigm shift in how education is delivered, and, as this is unprecedented in terms of research, we were eager to learn how the affected individuals in the educational sector perceive these societal changes. The study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with five students and three teachers who are either studying or working at Swedish universities. The outcome shows that there is a fluctuation in how social interactions changes from informal everyday encounters to more formal appointments. We found that the new frames on digital learning have different structural and institutional frames where laws and regulations differ from traditional physical learning. “New Normal” was an interesting term that arose during the interviews, which relates to the aforementioned changes. Finally, we attempt to define this concept in terms of a post Covid-19 society.