Remote working started as a necessity but the hybrid workplace has quickly become the modern standard. Still, many office workers are dissatisfied; ‘It is nice to work from home but much is lost for the collective’ (quote by an anonymous civil servant).

How may the officelandscape support instead of hinder our hybrid reality? Commissioned by the ‘Rijksbouwmeester’ (the independent Dutch government advisor on urbanism and architecture), studio LONK delved into the people behind the video screen. We researched today’s situation and experiences, both at the office and at the kitchen table, and developed a speculative scenario; what might hybrid work look like 30 years from now?

Our starting point is that hybrid interactions should be an integral part of the physical office environment. This way, accidental and informal encounters can take place between colleagues that are present digitally and physically.

In the short film ‘Happy Hybrid’ we present speculative everyday office situations that might model for such future hybrid interactions.

The film scenarios are currently being translated into a pilot setup commissioned by the ‘Rijksvastgoedbedrijf’ (The central government real estate agency).