Dynamic office - Office for Motion

New principles of health workspace design

Paradigm shift:

Dynamic replaces static ergonomics!

The development from the industrial to the service economy is still shaped by ideas of efficiency during industrialisation in the 19th and 20th century. The widespread pattern of cockpit organisation, where everything is close by, is based on performance criteria of an office factory that are derived from Taylorism. But is the replication of mostly similar, collaborative activities (typical for the way a factory is organised) really one of the core processes fit for offices of the future? Is the speed at which data is entered really the benchmark for assessing the quality of office work? What criteria apply today for good office work? In this backdrop, isn’t it increasingly about following arguments, the ability to analyse, responsibility for our own actions, creativity and soft skills? Motivation’s the name of the game! The key importance of physical activity for people has long since been recognised in various areas of our private and working lives. For example, in hospitals patients are encouraged to move about as quickly as possible after operations in order to activate the cardiovascular system. The health and spa industries are just some of the growth sectors and major campaigns are targeted at getting a large proportion of the population to take physical exercise. And in the office? Here our bodies are not taxed physically enough, working environments have shrunk in size and cut-backs in physical activity define organisational and planning strategies. Although placing less strain on our bodies has led to a chronic lack of physical activity. But if the body no longer has any stimuli, life also ceases. A living organism is based on the principle of stimuli and response. A lack of thirst means there‘s no need to drink, a lack of hunger means there‘s no need to eat, a lack of sexual stimulation means there‘s no need to reproduce and no stimulus means there’s no need to move and no cell metabolism.

Activity into the workplace

Nowadays, digitisation has maximised the compact nature of working en- vironments. The desk is the desktop, post is sent to the mailroom by a mouse click, filing is done by hitting a symbol, duplication is carried out through mailing lists, social contacts are by e-mail or chat room… The prices paid are damage to individuals’ health, business losses, as well as the risk of healthcare and social systems collapsing. Company health manage- ment departments aim to counteract this state of affairs by offering fit- ness programmes during breaks and after work. But because the biological drive to take exercise is missing, the numbers of people taking part and the success gained is usually frustrat- ingly low after a short period of time. Wouldn‘t it be much more logical to integrate physical activity into day-to- day lives than to try to compensate for the lack of it outside working hours?

Sitting – as bodies want to and can

There’s no such thing as sitting correctly or incorrectly, but only naturally. Any postures that the body can adopt without causing any pain are correct and important. Therefore, the office chair should offer enough space for different postures – from sitting up straight to lounging about, to squatting or sitting across the seat. Adjustments should be limited to a minimum so as not to impede with changes in posture. Chairs that offer tailored adjustment options for different postures and intuitively simple changes to the backrest, armrest, backrest height or seat depth, strike the right balance between automatic stimulation to move about and the ability to choose personal comfort preferences. Chairs should have synchronous-adjustment mechanisms (co-ordinated movement of the seat and backrest) which allow natural and unwitting interactions between the body and the chair. Small shifts of weight will already lead to changes in posture and a range of motion. With a distinct, understated aesthetic, the design should reflect the natural nature of sitting. 9

Away from desk-based physical activity to whole workspaces

Temporary standing instead of constant sitting

But encouraging physical activity should not just be limited to sitting at desks. Height-adjustable desks offer the opportunity to work while standing up (standing-sitting dynamics). However this does require a certain amount of deliberate action and the cognitive drive to change posture, which is why this function is not used in practice by many. To integrate more physical activity into office work, general re-organisation of office spaces is a more effective solution. It all starts by restructuring working processes to provide for a change between sedentary and standing activities. Whether it’s a question of placing the wastepaper basket in the corner of the room, or the phone on a lectern, the most important task is to stimulate people to get up. But this doesn’t just apply to people working at desks. Meetings and conferences often drag on – and mostly on seating that encourages virtually no movement at all. Anyone switching from sitting-down to standing-up meetings kills two birds with one stone. The change of posture is good for the body and work is more productive during standing-up meetings. However, because standing up for long periods of time is even more tiring than sitting down for a long time, fully flexible one-legged leaning aids at lecterns or high tables combine intuitive keep-fit exercises with relaxing the body. As an analysis of “Stitz” proved, temporary use of a dynamic leaning aid counteracts problems with balance and improves muscular co-ordination. The more frequently Stitz was used in addition to an office chair, the better the development of the test persons’ measurement figures.

Furnishing Concepts

Dynamic, participation-driven furnishing concepts

Seminars, training and project-work backdrops go a step further by urging people to become involved in their designs. Physical activity increases the chances of people participating actively in their workplaces. Because the input and long-term impression gained is likely to be greater if more senses are stimulated. Foldable, transportable tables, pinboards, flipcharts and stackable chairs are the ideal tools that are set up by the people themselves. As a result, the warm-up phase, or period when people actually deal with the issue, is speeded up considerably. Another welcome side effect is better space usage because the room’s more versatile. Consequently, usage is more frequent and extra manpower’s not required for alterations. Similarly to dynamic seating, significant efficiency improvements in this case go hand in hand with health aspects.

Flexible office types encourage activity and socialising

Flexibility and dynamism are embraced in modern office forms like the activity-based workplace. This concept originally circulated in the 1990s in the Netherlands and is currently a hot topic at major companies the world over. Office processes are no longer simply centred around static spaces that employees are tied to. Depending on the task and activity involved, office buildings offer different environments. They accommodate spaces for think-tanks, conference-call meetings, lounges, cafés, bistros, libraries, hyperconnected project rooms spread over several areas (sometimes across the Globe) and places for people to relax and recharge their batteries in. At the same time, this movement concept also supports personal interaction in the company – and therefore not just health, but also social cohesion and informal opportunities to share expertise. The more often rooms and environments are changed and the more varied these changes are, the more effectively all the senses are stimulated.