Constructing Productivity: Investigating the Types of Spaces Preferred for a Range of Work Tasks

This paper reviews the results of a survey of knowledge workers that was conducted in Delft, The Netherlands. The primary goal of the survey was to identify the types of work environments that promote the performance of knowledge workers in regards to a diverse range of work tasks. Participants were presented with images of different physical environments, including typical work environments, such as an open floor workspace, cellular office, and lounge, as well as several different natural environments. The participants then ranked the different physical environments in terms of their perception of how well the workspaces promoted their performance on the work tasks.

The results of the survey indicated that knowledge workers prefer a much broader and diverse range of work environments than are currently provided in office buildings. Notably, natural environments were found to be considerably more preferred than traditional work spaces for conducting a number of work tasks, particularly creative work tasks, such as brainstorming. In addition, at least one type of natural environment was ranked as at least the third best work environment for every work task evaluated.

keywords: Worker Performance, Creativity, Plants, Office Design