THE IMPACT OF THE EPIDEMIC THREAT ON THE DESIGN OF OFFICE SPACE AND OFFICE BUILDINGS

Abstract

The topic of the paper is determining the impact of an epidemic threat situation on the design of office space and office buildings. The types of actions taken to improve safety are: procedural actions, modifications of technical solutions: architectural and installation and remote work. Solutions in the field of office space architecture include: reducing the density of occupants, introducing partitions, eliminating multi-person offices, using materials that are easy to disinfect and clean, opening windows and installing personal protective equipment dispensers. The installation solutions include air quality improvement, filtration and disinfection systems as well as telecommunication installation systems supervising the use of the building. It can be expected that in the future, technical solutions will be introduced into the designs of buildings and office spaces, which will be a place for meetings, spontaneous interactions, mutual inspiration of employees and strengthening their identification with the employer whereas the ratio of office work places will be lower. The structure of the building is likely to change to a richer commertial part, a co-working part and flexible offices, and a traditional part of office space for lease, but as such office buildings will still be needed.