Due to the ever-changing creative industry, flexible office spaces will be the key to success in the future. For start-ups, freelancers, and creative professionals, co-working offices are the new way of working. Here, the focus is on cooperation and collaboration.
The companies work in mostly large, open spaces, allowing them to benefit from each other. They operate independently on different projects and tasks, but can also use the working environment to achieve joint success.
The coworking spaces provide workspaces and infrastructure (network, printers, scanners, telephones, projectors, meeting rooms) for a limited period of time and enable the formation of a community that is strengthened through joint events, workshops, and other activities.
The old factory buildings provide an ideal basis for implementing these modern working environments. In the "Competence Center Workspace Innovation" at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO), the aim today is to optimize "company performance" through "collaborative work in team rooms" and "spatial flexibility in workplace selection." through "areas that inspire" and "zones" where "recreation is provided." In other words, open-plan offices without fixed workstations, with shared chaise longues for brainstorming and quiet areas for effective five-minute naps are exactly what leading German researchers envision as the "office of the future."
