Post-pandemic scenarios of office workplace: new purposes of the physical spaces to enhance social and individual well-being

The hybrid working model, which allows employees to co-locate and work remotely (at home or elsewhere), seems to be prevailing, according to recent studies and the future projections developed in the post-pandemic new normality. The assessment of the two models has revived the debate over the new meanings of the office workplace and the experimentation on its spatial design. This paper aims to identify the values and features that make the office space attractive and ensure its survival. It begins by analyzing the creative experience of remote work gained by workers during the lockdown, identifying both issues and benefits given by the acceleration in the use of advanced digital technology and the innovations in the management of remote work. Then, the study retraces the debate on the design of office spaces and services in recent decades and the processes that have accompanied it, involving more and more employees. Besides a certain continuity detected between the issues addressed before and after the pandemic, the study emphasizes an emerging perspective that assigns a new centrality to the human being, understood in its complexity which goes beyond the user-centered approach, involving physical and mental well-being1. The paper will also present the sustainability perspective, specifically the awareness of the impact of human behaviours and design choices on an urban and global scale.