This magazine is one of four print issues of Vitra’s e-magazine, which were published digitally in the summer of 2020. The magazines are the concept of Vitra CEO Nora Fehlbaum and contain suggestions for new ways of designing offices and domestic interiors in light of the health concerns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Claiming that the pandemic has ‘fundamentally altered the way we work’, each issue focuses on a different aspect of the changing workplace. Working between disciplines, Vitra leveraged their network of scientists and designers to help inform their design decisions based on empirical evidence from research in public and personal health. Collectively, all four issues contain valuable information on workplace design and serve as a bellwether to the lasting changes in work in a post-pandemic society. 

Issue 03, ‘A New Destination for Shared Spaces’, covers the alteration and management of public spaces such as travel hubs, hotels, public institutions and restaurants. Much like issue 01, Vitra emphasises a permanent increase in hygiene standards, focusing particularly on droplet transmission through AC ventilation and concepts for floor plans that allow for physical distancing. CitizenM boutique hotels are used as a case-study for hospitality safety concepts, and the issue also includes planning examples for shared spaces like cafes and restaurants and implications for travel and commuting spaces. An essay interview with Hella Jongerius highlights the lasting importance of physical materials while an interview with Dan Hill, Director of Strategic Design at Vinnova, illuminates how policy and planning might affect private and public spaces moving forward.