New Work Communities: From the Fordist Office to the Worksphere 4.0

EasyChair Preprint 8517

Abstract

The organisational models orchestrated by Management Science for tertiary work and the spatial typologies in which it was carried out have been definitively challenged by the recent pandemic. From the pyramidal hierarchy that prevailed during the 20th century (Fontana 1981), we have moved to matrix-type and network-based management (Allen and Henn 2007). Since the end of the 19th century, offices have seen a proliferation of environments such as the cellular office, the open space, the Büroladschaft, the combi-office and the networking office (Forino 2011): each of these has proved revolutionary in its way, but none has become overriding the others. The most recent transformations of the workplace, accelerated by the pandemic, date back to the financial crisis of 2008, as well as to the use of information technology (Forino 2013), which opened up new scenarios permeated by spatial and digital delocalisation. It is now necessary to investigate the new diffuse geography of workspaces: from traditional offices reconfigured to meet different spatial and organisational needs to co-working offices, from bars, hotel rooms, co-living spaces, waiting rooms to the private home. In this extended vision, terms such as territory and community return to the centre are understood as places of affirmation of the individual's existence, of everyday life and of economic and public interests (Bonomi 2021a; 2021b). Another "worksphere" (Antonelli 2001) seems no longer defined only by the physical office but expressed by the set of social, psychological and economic conditions, the technological tools, and the places in which people work. This geography of spaces finds its raison d'être in the vision of a city of proximity (Manzini 2021), where workplaces seek to maximise relationships between colleagues and enhance the workplace within (Butera 2020). Architects and office designers have the task of creating inclusive frames for the post-pandemic workplace.

Keyphrases: Workplaces, interior design, office design, work communities, worksphere

@booklet{EasyChair:8517,
  author    = {Michela Bassanelli and Imma Forino},
  title     = {New Work Communities: From the Fordist Office to the Worksphere 4.0},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 8517},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2022}}