ABSTRACT
Because space is ubiquitous and the enmeshment of people and activities in it is considered self-evident, it tends to not be addressed with conscious thought, and the architectural agent is thus often a neglected and invisible factor in organizational decision-making. A point of departure for this paper is that space is an active, generative component that may impact organizational development in an emergent way. The case in this paper shows how two parallel municipality departments—a home care service team and the permanent staff in an extra-care housing residence—were subject to processes of transformation, separations and mergers because the organization adapted to available spaces. This adaptation was sometimes in accordance with organizational goals, and sometimes not. The long-term goal was that the permanent staff in the extra-care housing residence would eventually be replaced by home care services in a process that was expected to take several years. While the extra-care housing was a central spatial asset, the many municipality-owned premises were important factors in these changes since they were available spaces; available space is a highly invisible but influential agent in organizational decision-making. Even if it is subject to intentional considerations, it feeds on contingency when conflated with multiple alternatives in a co-emergent elderly care organization.
