Out of home office to increase people’s life quality

In collaboration with Rijkswaterstaat and World Design Embassies, we are launching a new Embassy Lab: Workplaces at home! Hybrid working (partly at home and partly at the office) has become the new normal for many people. However, not everyone finds their home a suitable place to work. How can we facilitate this?

The decline in car use over the past two years provides scope to look at mobility differently. Perhaps we should not reduce travel time by travelling faster or more efficiently but simply travel less by bringing the work environment closer to the employee. Therefore, now is the time to ensure that employees do not go back to “the old normal”, but instead search together for a permanent and workable form of the new normal. Design studio Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe will be working on the design question: How can we facilitate good workplaces close to home so that commuters need to make fewer transport movements?

Hybrid working seeks new forms

The assumption in the experiment is that by offering an attractive workplace of better quality than the home or office workplace in the vicinity, the quality of life of the employee will improve. And that more people will choose to stay within a 15-minute radius of their place of residence. This would reduce traffic movements on the road network, reduce dependence on the car as a means of transport and stimulate social cohesion within a neighbourhood. The focus of the experiment is therefore on creating an environment whose qualities are so attractive that residents will be tempted to work in out-of-the-way workplaces.

About van Eijk & Van der Lubbe

Van Eijk & Van der Lubbe is a design studio based in Geldrop, the Netherlands, founded by Niels van Eijk and Miriam van der Lubbe. They use design as a strategic tool for change towards a better living environment. Through their striking products and distinctively visitable places, they strive to create a valuable living environment for all people.

”Mapping out and making visually accessible the possibilities of working out in the future is a strategic tool for change towards a better living environment”. – Miriam van der Lubbe

In this lab, the design studio combines various experiences they have had in the past for different clients: from concept development for the car of the future (Experience in motion for Volvo) to the design of a work environment suitable for everyone for 450 employees (e.g. Zoveel mensen, zoveel wensen- werkomgeving voor Woonbedrijf).