Office After the Pandemic: The Architecture of Labor is Changing

What Happened to the Office?

COVID-19 conducted the largest remote work experiment in history. 2020–2021: the majority of “office” workers worked from home. The result: many discovered that productivity did not decrease, but actually increased. The centers of large cities emptied out. Commercial real estate was under threat.

2022–2024: “return to the office”—but differently across various companies and cultures. Hybrid models (2–3 days in the office) became dominant. This created new architectural challenges: why come to the office if you can work at home? The office must provide what a home workspace cannot: collaboration, social contact, random encounters, a sense of belonging to a community.

New Office Typologies

“Activity-based working” (ABW)—an office without assigned desks. Instead of a “forever” desk, you choose a workstation tailored to your task: a quiet zone for concentration, collaborative tables for teamwork, meeting rooms, phone booths, lounges. This requires trust (management by results, not by presence) and digital infrastructure.

Offices as a “third place”: neither home nor a private office, but something in between. WeWork created the coworking market—a shared space with infrastructure. Spotify, Google, Apple create “campuses” like a city within a city: cafes, gyms, parks, kindergartens—minimizing the need to go “outside”.

Critique of the office-“campus”: it creates a total environment, erasing the line between work and life. This is convenient for the company, neutralizing the need for public space. Is this exploitation disguised as convenience?

Question for reflection: How has the pandemic changed your attitude toward the workspace? Which tasks are solved better in the office, which at home? What should the office provide so that you would want to go there?