This study aims to raise an alternative to the modern office, which is remarked by a lack of communication and uniformization after the digitalization and pandemic era. The spread of telework, remote work, and hybrid work has not only reduced the prac...
This study aims to raise an alternative to the modern office, which is remarked by a lack of communication and uniformization after the digitalization and pandemic era. The spread of telework, remote work, and hybrid work has not only reduced the practical need for offices, but has also cast the question of whether, and why, the office is still necessary. This fundamental question, in turn, is beginning to change the office’s definition. The office is no longer merely a place for work; it should also be a social sphere where members form mutual relationships, teamwork, and organizational culture. However, the existing pattern of offices, typically with open units and multifunctional spaces, is not fully suitable for the routinization of such social interactions. Above all, this is because it usually relies on specific programs or events. Given this, the study seeks an alternative through office urbanism theory, in which the structure of move-and-stay in the city is applied to the office’s internal organization. In this study, office urbanism is not merely a form of adapting urbanization. Rather, it is set as a design methodology through which communication settings and relationship mechanisms are restructured. As such, a new possibility is suggested for modern office design. For this purpose, a literature review, case analyses, and design applications for modern offices were carried out. First, transitions over time were analyzed from social, human, and technological perspectives. Then, the concept of office urbanism and its theoretical foundations were described. Based on these theoretical speculations, four space-creation concepts were elaborated: a place for relationships, flexible borders, multifunctional spheres, and segmented areas. In the following section, with these four concepts set as the analytical framework, their application in real office construction cases was examined. The findings of the case analyses were as follows. First, the allocation of meeting places or official co-working programs is not sufficient for real communication in modern offices. Rather, communication usually occurs within implicit spatial settings formed through routine and repeated move-and-stay patterns of members. Second, the formation of relational places and flexible borders was crucial in most cases. Relationship spaces were created sparsely in areas such as extra spaces between task areas, shared rooms, and intersection points. Meanwhile, border flexibility served to coordinate the daily functions of these distinct spaces. Lastly, multifunctional areas and segmented zones were found to be basic spatial settings that supplement communication structures. Based on these findings, the author suggests a new office design model through a simulation of the virtual company “NEXO Creative Studio.” This design concept assumes that communication cannot be artificially programmed; rather, it naturally occurs amid the dynamics of cross-activity borders and the routinization of users’ move-and-stays. With this idea, the office was designed as a kind of “autonomous mini-city,” where the structure is not fixedly centralized but serves as a dynamic place for the creation and expansion of relationships. Through the present study, office urbanism is no longer merely a description of urban form. The relationship-building mechanisms embedded in this concept can now be applied to office space organization. Therefore, this study can be considered an attempt to overcome the non-communicative nature of modern offices through a focus on spatial organization. By extension, it implies how prospective office design can draw out the institutionalization of relationships and cooperation.