Developing a Community-Supporting Office Layout for Academics: a Case Study

Background and aim. Currently, many organisations are struggling to adjust their offices to a hybrid working model and attract people to the office to facilitate in-person interaction, co-worker bonding, and collaboration. However, academic work also requires deep-focused work and online collaboration. This paper aimed to contribute to the user-centred design of academic workplaces by providing a short case study of developing a community-supporting office layout.Methods. For a 43-person community, a new office floor plan was developed based on scientific knowledge and case-specific quantitative and qualitative data on the users’ perceptions, preferences, and behaviour. The proposed floor plan was evaluated in two focus groups.Results. The users’ needs included more quiet workspaces and opportunities for socialising without disturbing others. The most appreciated features of the new floor plan were the addition of small rooms, increased diversity of workspaces, a stronger social core, and a more hospitable entrance displaying the identity of the users. Additionally, the evaluation provided insights for further finetuning to the community’s unique needs.Originality. This paper indicates discrepancies between an intended ‘collaborative work environment’ and the actual needs of academic researchers. It provides examples of interior design solutions that could serve as hypotheses for future research on academic workspaces.Practical implications. The paper presents possible design solutions for community-supportive offices and illustrates how employees can be involved in office layout optimisation. Additionally, it presents an evidence-based design approach to identifying employees’ needs and contextualising scientific knowledge.