Now that we are using our offices in the centre of Utrecht again after the pandemic lockdowns, we decided a while ago to extend our space. Our main space will be used more as space for meeting each other (which does not mean meetings) and interaction. We added the office space next door which has two rooms. One is a much better place for focused work, with plenty of daylight and long sight lines. The other is suitable for meetings and video conferencing.
We had disccussions on the roles that our team needs the office to fulfill, and the conclusion was we needed more space not less, despite the fact we’ll be working from home a lot. Similarly our next door neighbour in their discussions about the same question concluded they didn’t need an office at all. Therefore since last month we took over their space as they left it behind.
Spots for focused work, with plenty daylight.
Meeting space
The plenty daylight is something I need to work on: my office is underground, and though there is promise of a window to the outside sometime soon, it will not be a “plenty daylight” window.
Our main office space is directly under the slanting roof. It has plenty daylight but those windows are small and placed high, providing no sight lines. Because of that the main space feels closed off to the outside world to me. The large windows in the new adjacent space feel like a breath of fresh air in comparison.