The Copernican office: The rise of the activitybased working paradigm

Abstract

This paper frames the post-COVID-19 transformation of work and workplace within Thomas Kuhn’s foundational model of paradigm transformation. The paper suggests that a shift in the workplace paradigm was well underway prior to the pandemic, and that the pandemic represents the ‘model crisis’ phase of Kuhn’s framework. More specifically, the paper argues that the next paradigm, or organising principle, of corporate officing will embody many of the user-experience (UX) characteristics of activity-based working (ABW). That is, it is proposed that workplace design and strategy will centre increasingly on employee experience, which will present challenges for the institutional imperatives of other stakeholders. The paper suggests that at the heart of the renegotiation of ‘what the office is’ and how it is experienced is an emerging social contract of work. The rise of the ABW paradigm will also present significant challenges to managers of tenant organisations, but in the long term the shrinkage of office footprints, reduction of costs and increase in space efficiency will be supported by management.