13.04.2022

Between coworking spaces and remote work

Where is my place, and where am I allowed to put my plant? The past two years have seen many restrictions in our private lives and workplaces due to the pandemic. For some companies and institutions, working from home has become part of everyday life. At the same time, coworking spaces have also become increasingly established in recent years. The current situation has shown us that we are more flexible than we thought. Coworking spaces, digital activities, virtual spheres, and event formats seem to be ushering in a new era.

Pixabay

Pixabay

Rigid, dusty workplaces are a thing of the past.

While social distancing and working from home have been the order of the day recently, paradoxically, there have also been developments that have brought the opposite trend back into focus, drawing inspiration from the familiar, though not always positively perceived, open-plan offices, and focusing on the design of innovative coworking spaces with flexible workstations. These office concepts aren't new, but they are being reimagined as innovative forms and open spaces of possibility. This idea may stem from the fact that, alongside the boom in remote work models, digitalization has also been further accelerated, resulting in a decreasing need for physical space. Thus, this challenging period has at least brought us an increase in digital event formats, as well as a rise in virtual networking and flexible workplace design.

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Lonely in your home office or lost in the open-plan office?

Do we tend to prefer a particular spot? Where do we put the plant and the family photo? Do we even need a fixed location? Digitalization represents the link between coworking spaces and home offices. Technological developments enable temporal and spatial flexibility. Platforms or initiatives that theoretically function without physical locations are no longer uncommon. These technological advancements allow us to decide individually how we want to structure our workday. Unwelcome distractions, the temporary loss of our sense of time, or the ability to literally switch off will certainly be familiar to some people working from home. At the same time, remote work also offers new opportunities to flexibly adapt professional activities to individual needs. Coworking spaces also offer us flexibility, but can open-plan shared offices represent a future-oriented office environment and guarantee optimal working conditions for everyone? Coworking spaces have the potential to promote exchange and stimulate ideas. This allows for interdisciplinary networking and the utilization of synergies. A combination of open-plan spaces and quiet areas, taking into account factors such as noise levels, habits, and individual needs, could potentially come very close to meeting these requirements. However, it remains to be seen what conditions must be created to fulfill the requirements of an optimal working environment, whether we are working in a coworking space, in quiet retreat areas of the coworking zone, or in a home office; ultimately, flexibility and having a choice are what count.

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Coworking Spaces at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences

Flexible workspaces were a key consideration in the design of the new campus at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. Furthermore, various forms of coworking spaces are becoming increasingly established. In addition to office space, open spaces for exchange among diverse target groups are also being created. These spaces can serve as platforms for experimentation and the promotion of creativity and innovation. Located directly adjacent to the university campus, the St. Pölten Business and Innovation Center (BIZ) offers individually configurable office spaces for young companies, founders, and startups. The St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences coworking space, located within the BIZ, can be used by Creative Pre-Incubator (CPI) and SMARTUP teams for meetings, presentations, and work, among other things. The CPI was developed in collaboration with accent Incubator and has been an integral part of the talent development program at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences for many years. Project teams can apply with innovative ideas and benefit from networking opportunities, workshops, and individual consulting and support services for their startups. SMARTUP was developed and implemented in 2018 by the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences on behalf of the city of St. Pölten. The initiative aims to promote and support innovation, businesses, and startups in the St. Pölten region.

Anna-Lena Schlamp/FH St. Pölten Coworking Space