A new reality: supporting employee well-being within a hybrid workplace model
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Work, working, and the workplace has been the foundation of urbanized civilization for thousands of years. Yet, it was only in the early twenty-first century that commercial interior designers had truly become concerned with how these interiors affected the well-being of those who worked within (Beno, 2021). While great strides have been made, the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 reinvigorated the focus on health and wellness in commercial design, especially as employees have begun returning to the office. As such, the office and its subsequent design have entered the next phase of its evolution, a hybrid workplace model (Hogarty, 2021b) that aims to increase employee well-being through enhanced flexibility, digital collaboration methods, and interior environmental quality. This practicum explores theories and ideas about enhancing employee well-being through concepts in environmental psychology, supportive design theory, universal design, and the latest commercial interior planning strategies resulting or emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. The final hypothetical design solution was derived from a culmination of information and approaches generated from a literature and precedent review, comprehensive site analysis, spatial programming, and design concept development. The site selected for the hypothetical design is 136 Market Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba’s iconic downtown Exchange District.