Better Office Layout for Better Quality of Work

Abstract

Many researchers have proposed models of quality of working life which include a wide range of factors, authors have emphasized the workspace physical environment as a substantial factor that influences the quality of working life. The overall design of the office workspace from the office layout and partitioning to work dynamics and company culture has a huge impact on the performance of the coworkers. The well designed office workspace facilitates the flow of information urges the engagement among the coworkers and raises the productivity. This paper sheds light on the accessibility and the visibility as important characteristics of the theory of Space Syntax in office workspace design, with observation and examination of the effect of these characteristics in the interaction and collaboration between the coworkers. For that the author conducted a review for the related literature and researches, in addition an applied field study was held for three cases of office workspaces in Cairo focusing on the analysis and comparison of the workspace layouts. The study found significant correlations between the accessibility and the visibility of the office workspace and the interactions between the coworkers. .