Britt de Fouw

WORKING IN SHARED SOLITUDE

A workplace where connection with one another is paramount. Where the routing allows people to feel the presence of others without verbally engaging in conversation, thus maintaining a sense of community connection.

In a time when working from home is increasingly common, this place offers an alternative: a space where people can be together, yet still be alone. An environment that embodies the quality of shared solitude—together, without distraction; alone, without loneliness.

The routing through the building is designed so that people naturally encounter others: in passing, at a distance, behind a semi-transparent surface. You sense each other's presence, without direct contact. It is precisely this indirect connection that creates a sense of security within a collective setting.

As Juhani Pallasmaa writes in The Eyes of the Skin, “the door handle is the handshake of the building.”

The touch of a door handle is often the first physical contact with architecture. In my design, pivot doors mark these moments of transition and contact. They not only direct movement through the space but also make the presence of others tangible without words.

The pivot doors direct movement through the building, slowing down or speeding up the flow of traffic, and making the presence of others tangible through sound, shadow, and movement. This creates a layered spatial experience in which users continuously switch between seclusion and connection.