A New FrontierThe emergence of the Outdoor Workspace

Abstract: A new norm and culture has been created which has lowered the threshold for individuals to work from different and alternate locations, such as the outdoor workspace. The purpose of outdoor workspaces has been suggested to be designed to allow and provide individuals to work in a different scenery with the intention of providing mental and physical health effects that will improve wellbeing and productivity. While there are some advantages to outside workspaces, there are also several difficulties and issues that should be noted. First, and foremost the outside workspace is exposed to nature and all that it entails (bugs, temperature, wind, noise etc.). The overarching purpose of this report was to investigate the hindering and promoting conditions for creating and working in outdoor workspaces at Scania. This included analysing office workers' perceptions and thoughts on outdoor workspaces, discovering what types of work assignments would be suitable to do outdoors, and conceptualizing how these outdoor environments could look like. Information was collected through semi structured interviews that were transcribed and analysed. During this phase, different views and opinions were identified and brought forth in this report. The overall goal of the outdoor workspace should be to design for the employee's well-being, comfort, and satisfaction. It would then stand to reason to design the outdoor workplace with the employee's main wishes in mind. A suitable location for the outdoor workspace was identified at Scania Sodertalje just outside the regular office premises. Suitable work tasks for the outdoor workspace were identified as group discussions, communicative oral tasks, meetings, and simple administrative tasks. The outdoor workspace should be designed to provide a comfortable and relaxing work environment. The outdoor workspace should be designed for the spring and summer seasons due to favourable weather conditions, provide ergonomically designed furniture that is durable and suited for outdoor use, access to reliable digital infrastructure (electricity and internet access) and clear rules, directives, and guidelines that are established and communicated to all workers regarding the use of the outdoor workspace.