Room.ROOM_Justin Chung.
- Workplace startup Room released mini modular workspaces.
- The workspaces can modify a traditional office to be safer during coronavirus.
- Room started out selling soundproof office phone booths.
Offices will probably never look the same in a post-Coronavirus world. Open floor plans, shared snacks, and even places for napping or hanging out were once markers of trendy places to work, but now these perks seem dangerous in the context of a pandemic, as some offices reopen.
New York-based startup Room made a name for itself selling private phone booths to open offices, with clients including Uber, Google, and Salesforce. At the end of August, the company announced a new line of products that can help transform open offices into something more suitable for social distancing in 2020.
The modular pods are like pop-up meeting rooms with extra ventilation, and Room is also offering a new analysis tool to give clients data on how office space is used, and how employees can safely return.
Room's proposal is just one idea popping up about how to work during a pandemic. Architect and designer Mohamed Radwan created a system of airtight office pods with air purifiers, and many other designers have created tiny backyard offices, or even ways to transform the home into an office, tastefully.