Abstract
More and more companies use physical space as a way to enhance creativity, create change and stimulate interaction. There seems to be a strong link between work practice, learning and innovation in an organisation. This research investigates how space affects this interrelationship and explores how space can support organisational strategy. This is investigated by exploring three cases from an educational, a cultural and an industrial setting to illustrate how space can be used to support an organisation’s policy and help it's strategic intentions. The theoretical framing takes its departure point in design literature on workspace planning and creative spaces for learning. The paper also builds on literature from design management, organisational change and psychology to explain how space can influence people. The findings demonstrate how space can be used to enhance organisational strategy and demonstrate how closely the creation of space can be related to the development of that strategy.
Keywords
space strategy, design management, organisational change, interaction
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.443
Citation
Storvang, P. (2016) Space as organisational strategy, in Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Future Focused Thinking - DRS International Conference 2016, 27 - 30 June, Brighton, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2016.443
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Space as organisational strategy
More and more companies use physical space as a way to enhance creativity, create change and stimulate interaction. There seems to be a strong link between work practice, learning and innovation in an organisation. This research investigates how space affects this interrelationship and explores how space can support organisational strategy. This is investigated by exploring three cases from an educational, a cultural and an industrial setting to illustrate how space can be used to support an organisation’s policy and help it's strategic intentions. The theoretical framing takes its departure point in design literature on workspace planning and creative spaces for learning. The paper also builds on literature from design management, organisational change and psychology to explain how space can influence people. The findings demonstrate how space can be used to enhance organisational strategy and demonstrate how closely the creation of space can be related to the development of that strategy.