OFFICE BUILDINGS

Dear Readers,

Those who regularly follow the news are just as regularly warned: about extreme weather, price increases, phone scams and so on. Currently, the consulting firm Gallup warns that only 14 percent of employees feel a strong sense of loyalty to their employer. The number of respondents who intend to still be employed with the same company in a year’s time has been decreasing for years. Never before have so many people wanted to change jobs; more than 7.3 million employees have already mentally resigned, the number of sick days is at an all-time high and emotional attachment to the company is at a ten-year low. That’s not good – for companies! The causes are certainly diverse, but remote work from home has hardly strengthened emotional bonds. Collectively working towards a jointly set and proclaimed goal requires a certain physical proximity and identification with the employer. The idea of enticing the team back to the office with a fresh concept was encountered in many of the projects that we selected for this issue on offices. Ideally, attractive, homely meeting areas that encourage communication and knowledge transfer complement more quiet, secluded areas for concentrated work and, with a design specifically tailored to the company, create the desired identification. But what would contemporary office design be without considering sustainability in the planning? On various levels, the conscious use of resource can be taken into account, as Janina Poesch’s article “Sustainable Office” demonstrates: starting with flexible floor planning, to intelligent selection of materials to the use of reconditioned office furniture. The conversion of a barn into an office for a landscape architect proves to be particularly sustainable. Dominik Reding’s column “Dance this mess around” also deals with the preservation and meaningful repurposing of office buildings. It’s a wonderful thought that, one day, people will dance and live in a run-down office building. The Light + Building fair was revived in Frankfurt. We visited the event and have compiled a comprehensive trade fair report. Will we be seeing you soon at the next trade fair in Milan?

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect