Rethinking workspaces

Rethinking workspaces – collaboratively, interdisciplinarily, from multiple perspectives

Work isn’t just changing—it’s being redefined by space, culture, and collaboration. Together with Vitra, M.O.O.CON, and Wöhr & Bauer, we explored how offices can truly attract people again. How important are organisation, culture, furniture cycles and spatial design? And how can these components be combined to create a working environment that is sustainable in the long term?

The discussion quickly revealed that working environments cannot be thought of in one dimension. Only the combination of organisational clarity, spatial quality, economic conditions and sustainable materials and furniture systems leads to a holistic understanding. Workspaces are not islands; they are created through the interaction of many disciplines – and that is precisely where their potential lies.

Future-proof spaces for culture, productivity and identity

Hybrid working has become established, yet office space remains vacant in many places. Some buildings have valuable substance, while others are at risk of becoming stranded assets. The crucial question today is therefore not so much whether offices remain relevant, but what they stand for – and how they can function as places of encounter and identification in times of distributed teams.

In Frankfurt, it became clear how much the perspectives of those involved complement each other: M.O.O.CON highlighted the real needs of organisations and teams today; Vitra showed how recyclable furniture systems and atmospheric qualities shape spaces; Wöhr & Bauer explained the structural and economic conditions under which sustainability arises; and Dietrich Untertrifaller illustrated how these insights can be translated into spatial terms.

This exchange gave rise to a common picture: sustainable working environments enable closeness, create meaning and invite people to be part of a culture that is tangible in everyday life.

From workplace to resonance chamber

Spaces can transmit culture – or render it invisible. In times when teams commute between home offices, third places and the office, the importance of the physical location is growing: it becomes a resonance chamber for corporate culture, for rituals, for spontaneous ideas, for everything that cannot be replicated digitally.

Prof. Heinrich Lessing summed it up at the event: spaces that people want to return to are those where encounters are successful. Spaces that create atmosphere, offer orientation and strengthen relationships.

Why presence cannot be mandated

Michael Wiebelt (M.O.O.CON) made it clear why many ‘back-to-office’ strategies come to nothing: you cannot demand self-determination and mandate presence at the same time. Factors such as belonging, closeness, lived identity and the feeling of growing through exchange are crucial. Only then does voluntary presence arise – and with it the loyalty that companies need for innovation and collaboration.

Architecture can support these dynamics, but it cannot replace them. It creates conditions that make meaning tangible – provided that organisation and attitude do not contradict this.

Listening before designing – why programmes shape spaces

Dominik Philipp, partner at Dietrich Untertrifaller, emphasised that good working environments do not begin with furniture, but with a precise understanding of the work itself. Which processes shape everyday life? Where do ideas arise? Where is there a need for retreat, where for exchange?

Design emerges from these programmes – not the other way around. Spaces that are developed based on actual needs create orientation, strengthen processes and feel less like designer backdrops and more like part of a vibrant work culture.

Existing buildings as a resource – when substance pays off

Existing buildings shape cities and offer enormous potential. Many structures have value, atmosphere and robustness. Others, however, are difficult to retrofit for energy efficiency or so inflexible that further construction makes little sense.

Jonathan Wieberneit (Wöhr & Bauer) used current projects to show that preserving suitable buildings can save up to 40 per cent of CO₂ emissions from the construction phase. At the same time, he emphasised that attitude alone is not enough: sustainability thrives on sound analysis – on recognising when substance is important and when it is not.

Dominik Philipp added to this idea: a house has a history that can be continued – but only if the foundation is right.

Thinking on site: architecture as a physical experience

For Dietrich Untertrifaller, working as close as possible with the building itself, is part of its practice. Not planning from afar, but working in dialogue with light, materials and atmosphere. Just as craftspeople build on site, Dietrich Untertrifaller plans for the precise conditions on site.

This approach results in spaces that respond more precisely to the existing substance and are noticeably connected to it. ‘Good aesthetics are neither new nor old – they are coherent,’ Philipp said. The decisive factor is the credibility between what a place was and what it is to become.

Magnetic workspaces: practical projects

A look at projects that make the shared mindset particularly tangible shows how the attitudes discussed in Frankfurt can be translated into physical space.

The Omicron Campus in Klaus, for example, combines spatial quality with cultural clarity to create a working environment that attracts international talent. The i+R Headquarters in Lauterach translates openness and transparency into architectural structures that promote communication. The legero united Campus in Feldkirchen shows how equality and community can be anchored in a ring-shaped architecture that grows with the building.

NoA Hamburg is creating hybrid learning and working environments whose modularity responds flexibly to future requirements. And with NEXUS Baar and the office building on Schwanthalerstraße in Munich, it becomes clear how the ‘next life’ of a building can be considered from the outset: circular, changeable, dismantlable.

Together, these examples illustrate that spatial quality can enhance culture – without replacing it.

Circularity as an economic task

Sustainability is no longer just an aesthetic ideal. For Jonathan Wieberneit, circularity is an economic imperative. Value is created by people, not walls. The decisive factors are the structural quality of a building and the future scenarios it enables.

Circularity in furniture – an often underestimated lever

Vitra reminded us that circular thinking does not end at the building envelope. Furniture, materials and processes contribute significantly to resource efficiency – provided they are integrated into the planning process at an early stage. Care, reconditioning and flexible usage systems extend product life cycles and noticeably reduce environmental impact.

Ralf Schmitz, Dominik Philipp, Jonathan Wieberneit and Michael Wiebelt
© Jacqueline Horn

Integral planning: Process as an attitude

Whereas linear processes used to dominate, today's sustainable working environments are created through dialogue between users, organisation and design. Formats such as integral planning workshops or BIG ROOMS – often located directly in the building itself – combine spatial issues with cultural and organisational topics.

It all starts with a few fundamental questions: What should this place stand for? What encounters will be important here? Which qualities of the existing building are beneficial, and which are hindering? The answers give rise to a spatial framework that can evolve rather than remain static.

Conclusion: Workspaces as spaces for relationships

‘Today, architecture thinks less in terms of objects and more in terms of relationships,’ says Dominik Philipp. Prof. Heinrich Lessing adds: ‘It's about places of encounter, not spaces. Atmosphere is the driving force behind creative culture.’

What remains is a shared vision among the four partners: those who design working environments design relationships – between people, organisations and their built environment. It is precisely this interaction that shapes the future of the office.

Text: Linda Pezzei

More information on this topic can be found in the latest white paper from M.O.O.CON.