Workspace Types and Furniture Design Features That Pursue Collaboration Values

Abstract

(Background and Purpose) In order to effectively respond to recent managing uncertainty, companies emphasize collaboration values ​​and utilize collaboration-centered organizational culture and workspace as strategic means. In an era when corporate management was based on the arbitrary judgment and understanding of the owner or management, this was centered on the so-called ‘collective intelligence’, in which corporate members with diverse professional knowledge discussed in a horizontal relationship and came up with a comprehensive solution to problems. This means that an era in which collaborative management is effective has arrived. In particular, workspace is evolving from a physical place for work to a strategic integration that facilitates communication and interaction among workers, and encourages collaboration. In addition, office furniture design shows a linked development from simple functional fixtures to elements that define the layout and usability of collaboration space. This study aims to propose a sustainable development direction for workspace design in companies pursuing collaboration values today and to provide basic data for joint research on workspace and furniture design. (Method) In Chapter 2, after understanding the terminological concept of collaboration through previous studies and literature sources, it examined ‘Broad Collaboration’ that accommodated the recent management environment and diversified work methods. In addition, the workspace provided to support broad collaboration was subdivided into three collaborative purposes: idea generation, problem solving, and information sharing, to understand each spatial requirements. In Chapter 3, a qualitative analysis was conducted based on the collaborative purposes by selecting the workspace of a company pursuing collaboration values ​​in the past 5 years as a case study. In Chapter 4, common types of collaborative work spaces and the furniture features of each type were derived through the case analysis conducted in Chapter 3. (Results) The spatial types of collaborative work spaces were categorized into six types: shared circulation, concentration support, casual living, flexible grouping, formal meeting, and dining fusion. After conceptualizing each type, the furniture design features of each spatial type were identified. (Conclusions) Collaboration is recognized as an important value and corporate management policy in managing uncertainty. While its meaning and category have extended to ‘broad collaboration’, workspace has developed into a strategic element that leads to successful collaboration. This study is significant as a basic study on sustainable workspace design by deriving spatial types and furniture design features based on the spatial characteristics of work spaces that pursue collaboration values, thereby laying the groundwork for joint research on the integration of workspace and furniture design.