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Quiet space

Degree Project 2023

An increasing amount of offices are changing to open office landscapes for its cost efficiency. This creates a problem of unwanted noise and visual disturbance that leads to concentration difficulties and stress in the employees. As a result, many employees choose to work from home even though they prefer the social interaction of physically being at work. Mino is created to be a quiet space for you as an employee can go to when needing extra focus and privacy so you don’t need to work from home to concentrate at your job. The sound absorbent soft seating and the sound absorbent back panel creates a quiet environment. The side panels are frosted to minimizes the visual disturbance for the user. Combined they create the quiet space, Mino.

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Project information

Open office landscapes create a great amount of unwanted noise. The noise causes stress in the employees that can result in long-term mental health issues as well as effects the performance at work due to for example, a lack of concentration.

If distracted by noise created by social interaction or general sound in the open space it takes an individual 25 minutes to regain their focus. This led me to my thesis question, “How can you improve the psychosocial environment in an open office landscape”.

Through my interview and research, I found that people working in an open office landscape choose to work from home because of the constant disturbance at work. However nearly 100 % preferred to work in house. My users especially highlighted the issue of the office being too small and the group rooms being full so they didn’t have anywhere to go when needing quiet or privacy.

Methods

I have designed Mino together with product developers and textile engineers at Götessons. Through 3D visualisation both through CAD and physical product I have worked with my users to create a solution to a better work environment in open office landscapes.

Result

The result of my project is the sound absorbent Mino. Mino works as a substitute or compliment to group rooms and conference rooms in an open office landscape. Mino has a transparent Plexiglas roof to lighten up the space without the need of electricity. The two side panels are frosted Plexiglas to minimize the visual aspects of disturbance. The seating is made out of sound absorbent material as well as the back panel. The back panel also helps the user with concentration since no one can look at your work from behind. The base of the chair is made of the a round bent sheet metal profile in aluminium. Mino is made out of 100 % recycled material and the parts are designed to be easy to replace, reuse and recycle.