Exploring Transformation of Concept and Design Strategies of Office Space

The organization of office spaces is directly related to the technologies used and the workflow dynamics. A vast usage of lap-tops and internet connection has made a strong impact on the mobility possibilities of the office space users and consequently to the conceptual approaches related to the ways these spaces are designed. Portable devices and wireless internet allow employees to do their work in any place that they want. They can do their work from different places such as home, café or even from another country. Instead of face to face interaction, a new type of collaboration and interaction which is called virtual collaboration or virtual work has been appeared. So, the nature of work and the meaning of the workplace have fundamentally changed. In this new era interior architects are facing with the question of how the new generation offices should be organized and designed and to be able to answer this question one should have first an insight about how the office work, and approach to the office employees are in these offices. There are many studies about furniture design in offices, about lighting design and its influence on the performance and/or psychology of users, personalization issues in offices and similar topics however there is very little research looking at the current trends regarding work organization and how these influence the design of office interiors, mainly in terms of spatial (design) structure and organization. The main aim of this research is to investigate the latest changes and tendencies in offices in terms of technology and work organization. In this way, the study aims to prepare a conceptual framework for understanding the underlying factors in design of the next generation offices and to detect strategies that can be used by interior architects in design of these offices. Some most recently designed Google company’s offices have been chosen as the cases to be studied in this research as this company is accepted as a pioneer in design of new age offices. Keywords: New-Age Office, Office Spaces, Interior Design, Office Technology.