NEW NORMAL
HYBRID WORKING
Visualisations : Bagua+Bhava
Text: Bagua+Bhava
Winners of a competition held by The Nate, Bagua+Bhava explores the idea of what Hong Kong’s Residential or Office Space would look like in the immediate future, following the pandemic.
In 2020, The Nate launched a competition to explore the idea of “What Hong Kong’s Residential or Office Space would look like in the immediate future”. As a response to this competition, the Bagua+Bhava Team presented a proposal imagining the future of such spaces in Hong Kong and in the rest of the world. The team was awarded the winner of the competition.
After a year of battling the pandemic, the problem still remains and is continuing to affect the lifestyles’ of all human beings. Post COVID-19, will the way that we live and work change? In a densely populated city such as Hong Kong, where living spaces are typically small, there will likely still be a need for office space, but what will this look like? Bagua+Bhava believes that the answer is HYBRID WORKING. What is Hybrid Working?
It is a mix of office-based work and working from home or another location. As lockdown eases, employees are slowly returning to their offices, but many are still not in the office full time and are moving between their traditional desk and their home office.
Hybrid Working will change the way that we live and work in three aspects: The Living Space, The Working Space, and The City Space.
01. The Living Space
In the future living space, most of the time people can stay and work at home. Therefore, a residential unit will be divided into two areas. One is Resting Zone and another one is Working Zone.
Model 01
Open Working Space
Open Working Space can provide an interactive function and open space if the owners are working in some creative business such as designers, artists and so on.
Model 02
Semi-open Working Space
Semi-Open Working Space can provide private space if the owners need to be very focused and not disturbing on their jobs.
Model 03
Enclosed Working Space
Enclosed Working Space can provide a separate space between the working area and the living area in a residential unit.
Model 04
Entertainment Space
Moving the cabinet to one side will become a resting area from the working area. Therefore, the owner can get a larger space to get some rest after work.
Model 05
Sleeping Space
Finished one day’s work, the owners can adjust the sofa layout and pull out the bed from the platform in order to watch a nice movie and a nice sleep.
“Hybrid Working is a flexible new working trend across multiple locations, immersive workspace and consistent experiences.”
02. Working Space
Homeworking and co-working spaces will rise in prominence but we’ll still see a need for a central company workspace for a meeting, collaboration and to give the workforce its sense of identity?
On the other hand, do we still need a fixing or private desk for the future working space? No. And we just need three functions in the future office. They are Working Area, Resting Area, and Meeting Area.
03. City Space
Shophouse (前舖後居) is a building type serving both as a residence and a commercial business which is “a shop opening on to the pavement and also used as the owner’s residence” and became a commonly used term since the 1950s. Shophouse can be found in old Hong Kong and Macau, and it is found in a building type known as Tong lau.
RESIDENCE + OFFICE = FUTURE BUILDING
In the hybrid working era, we work from home most of the time and we seldom work in the office. As a result, do we need an office building in the future? Or we can absorb the shophouse method which means combining the living space and the working space in a building at the same time.
Work is not a place. It is what you do
Businesses will look to smaller offices dispersed across more locations
The Future City Buildings
The reason that hybrid working is the new normal is because of sustainability. Working from home can reduce the working spaces and the government can create more residences for the citizen. Besides that, due to the reduction of the working spaces, more green areas such as parks can be built in order to achieve a sustainable society.
Learn More
In 2020, The Nate launched a competition to explore the idea of “What Hong Kong’s Residential or Office Space would look like in the immediate future”. As a response to this competition, the Bagua+Bhava Team presented a proposal imagining the future of such spaces in Hong Kong and in the rest of the world. The team was awarded the winner of the competition.