Partner engaged design: new challanges for workplace design

The spatial organization of the workplace affects the work going on there. The technology used, changes the work practice. This paper describes a design process where different aspects of workplace design for project-based office work have been combined into one multi-stakeholder project, integrating the spatial aspects, the furniture, the information technology, and the IT-services that are connected to work. To have several different partners with different interests and competencies collaborating in a future oriented design process puts certain demands on the setup of the process and the tools being used. Taking a starting point in existing work practice, we have driven this project with techniques most often used for user-involvement. Scenario building played a crucial role in tying the process together. The concrete result is a completed concept proposal for an actual “office of the future” layout, which integrates advanced information technology and service solutions. The case shows that it is possible to reach innovative consensus-anchored results with the described design method.