FOCUS: A Workspace Concept for Home

Abstract

mainly sound absorbers and diffusers. They saw a potential opening in the market for people who will start to work part-time from home. Through our research we found that, in the future, a majority of people who worked from home during the Covid19 pandemic will not continue to work full-time from home. They will probably work from home two days a week, that is, 16 hours per week. How can we create a pleasurable workspace at home for those 16 hours that will not compromise the living space at home for the other 152 hours? By talking to people working from home about their experiences, challenges and benefits we sought to get a deep understanding of how working from home has and will affect people in the future. Our research was based on literature, interviews, workshops, user testing and other methods to truly understand people’s experiences. Using these insights, we designed a concept furniture with the goal of improving the working environment at home, decreasing the impact of having a workspace when not in use and fitting the product line of Abstracta’s catalogue. Through a sprint process with a service design mindset we have developed a foldable workspace called Focus. Focus is a foldable workstation that combines many qualities that make a good workspace such as height adjustment, integrated lights, sound dampening, outlets, cable management, storage capabilities and the ability to be moved. It can also be closed to hide the visuals cues of work and become smaller, resulting in less use of physical space and reduced visual salience when not in use. Working from home is here to stay and new products are needed to improve the conditions for good work life balance. The market is largely unexplored and there are many opportunities for improving the user’s experiences.