Opinion | Working from home in pandemic denies us the benefits of sharing office space
- A healthy working environment becomes a communal space for sharing ideas and creating synergy, which in turn produces higher-quality services and deliverables
- Instead of advocating working from home, we should reimagine an office as a home away from home that can inspire employees and maximise their productivity
A visiting architect once asked my high school senior class, “What is architecture about?” “Ask Dennis, he wants to be an architect!” my enthusiastic classmate said. I was caught off guard, straightened up and said, “um, construction of buildings?” “Not exactly …”
As a top student in my class, I was dumbfounded and embarrassed. Thirty years later, I still remember the lesson from that day. I occasionally remind myself: it’s not about construction or the building. Architecture is about space.
If a company is only about providing services and producing deliverables, perhaps working from home is sufficient. Often, companies mean more to both employers and employees.
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In Japan, workers swap their offices for snowboarding
We call deliverables our life’s work, our blood and soul, or our children, for a reason. Offices are more than just machines to generate revenue; they are home bases where we grind, produce and bring out the best in ourselves.