The Home Office, A New Perspective on Workstation Design

Sammanfattning: The development of office furniture design has been stagnant while digital technology has changed drastically over the last decades. There is a need for a new approach in order to bring the design of the office workstation into the future, which this thesis sets out to contribute to. The Covid-19 pandemic which has affected the lives of almost everyone around the globe in 2020, and has resulted in many employees working from home, either fully or partially. Never before have so many worked from home for so long. This enables a new, democratic, novel perspective in office furniture design. Can learning about the home office workstation, reflections and comparisons to the ordinary office yield valuable insight into the future of office furniture? In this study, the younger generations of the workplace have been the focus in order to keep the spotlight on the workplace of tomorrow. A target demographic with similar experiences at their ordinary office have answered an online survey and a selection of the respondents have subsequently been interviewed. Conclusions that can be made from the master thesis, amongst others, is that a height adjustable sit-stand desk is heavily utilized at their ordinary office and missed while working from home. The social aspect of the ordinary office is of great importance to the respondents, they want an office landscape and workstation which can facilitate interaction. Adequate lighting with sufficient contrast was also requested along with access to natural lighting as illustrated by many respondents moving around their residence throughout the day to follow the sun. Lastly, respondents at home seem to employ an activity based workflow to varying degrees, and to some extent desire aspects from that philosophy in their ordinary office, however, having their own private desks with their furniture settings and belongings were stressed as very important.