“Hybrid Working and New Office Designs” discussed at Bridging Nature and Life Meetings
Bridging Nature and Life Meetings take place for the ninth time
Hybrid Working and New Office Designs
Kastamonu Entegre hosted the talk on “Changing Working Styles and Hybrid Working” during the ninth session of Bridging Nature and Life Meetings. The session featuring Umut Uzuner, architect and founder at Udesign Mimarlik-Architecture, and Jeyan Ülkü, interior architect and founder at Jeyan Ülkü Architects, as speakers discussed the changing working habits and the reflections of these changes on office and furniture designs.
A global brand in the wood-based panel industry, Kastamonu Entegre entertained Umut Uzuner, architect and founder at Udesign Mimarlik-Architecture, and Jeyan Ülkü, interior architect and founder at Jeyan Ülkü Architects in the ninth session of Bridging Nature and Life Meetings moderated by Yapı Kataloğu (Building Catalog) held at the KEAS Concept Studio. The talk that took place with the attendance of audience from architecture and design industries, as well as of architecture students, addressed the theme of “Changing Working Styles and Hybrid Working”.
“Not only personalized rooms, but even personalized desks are disappearing from offices”
Starting her speech by underlining that the pandemic is a turning point in the change of working styles, Jeyan Ülkü, interior architect and founder at Architects, said “Before the pandemic, there was either full remote working or full office working. With the pandemic, there was only remote working. The aftermath of the pandemic witnessed the emergence of hybrid working style.” Ülkü stressed that a hybrid working pattern requires major changes in offices as well as on employees, and remarked that there was a tendency towards more functional and multifunctional space designs suitable for the hybrid working model after the pandemic. She continued her speech saying “People who started to return to offices as part of hybrid patterns after the pandemic sought the capability to enjoy the comfort of their homes in their offices. Companies started to demand office designs that would meet this expectation so that they can enhance the peace and motivation of their staff. As one of the reflections of this, not only personalized rooms, but even personalized desks have started to disappear from offices. Multifunctional space designs have made it possible to design colorful spaces where employees can relax and 'feel as peaceful as if they were at home'.”
“Spaces not appealing to the soul have no future”
Umut Uzuner, architect and founder at Udesign Mimarlik-Architecture, pointed out that people can actually work from anywhere as demonstrated by the pandemic, resulting in the understanding, when returning to offices after the pandemic, that the more pleasant the workspaces are designed, the more the performance and motivation of the employees will increase. “Social space is now an inevitable reality of every office”, said Uzuner and stated that they started to design multifunctional spaces to create these social areas in offices. He talked about the prominent features of new design models as follows: “We also try to create spaciousness and breathing points while trying to use any spaces efficiently. We do this with colors as much as we do with designs. People now want more colorful workspaces and warmer materials. Comfort is important, but it is also necessary to appeal to the soul. I can say that spaces not appealing to the soul have no future.”
Having brought architects, interior designers and industry professionals together at the KEAS Concept Studio under various topics since 2023, the Bridging Nature and Life Meetings will continue to present new topics and guests to the participants.
