Printed from smellbook.com/smells/office. This printout keeps the entry for Office itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
A shared work environment combining paper, electronics, furniture, coffee, conditioned air and people.
Setting: ambient · work. An editorial word for the kind of place or occasion the smell belongs to, not a smell word.
An office smells dry and quiet, with paper, warm electronics and furniture forming a flat background. EDITORIAL
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Links SmellBook records for this entry: where you meet it, related smells and comparisons. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors. Nothing here is a ranking.
QUESTIONS ABOUT OFFICE
An office smells dry and quiet, with paper, warm electronics and furniture forming a flat background. Coffee, lunches and hand cream add passing notes, while conditioned air keeps everything fairly neutral. The smell is subtle, more noticed after a weekend or holiday than during an ordinary working day.
It is met at desks and in meeting rooms, near printers and kitchens, and in shared open-plan spaces. Many people notice it most on a Monday morning or on the first day of a new job.
Typical settings: desk area, meeting room, shared office.
SmellBook links it to one place page: see it in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: More outdoor air, less office odour. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
Office is an editorial shared-space profile and not an indoor-air-quality assessment.
SmellBook records one written comparison with other smells: see it in Connections.
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
More outdoor air, less office odour
In a normally furnished office, raising the outdoor air supply from 3 to 10 and 30 L/s per person reduced the share of people dissatisfied with the air and the perceived intensity of odour, and made the air seem fresher.
Groups of female subjects in one office during 4.6-hour sessions; it concerns perceived air quality, not the smell of offices in general.
How this was found: How people experienced it. People reported what they noticed, felt or judged, in interviews, smell walks or rated air quality. Source: primary study; sensory or perception work.
PAWEL WARGOCKI, DAVID P. WYON, JAN SUNDELL, GEO CLAUSEN & P. OLE FANGER
DOI 10.1034/j.1600-0668.2000.010004222.xLinks chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
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MY SMELLBOOK · LOCAL ONLY
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Office.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0143 — Officesmellbook:smell:officehttps://smellbook.com/smells/officeSmellBook. (2026). Office (revision 4, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:office. https://smellbook.com/smells/office@misc{smellbook_office_r4,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Office},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 4, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:office},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/office}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-office-r4 TI - Office AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 4 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/office N1 - SB-0143; smellbook:smell:office; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/office ER -
The citation names revision 4 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Office is an editorial shared-space profile and not an indoor-air-quality assessment.
Other entries whose editors linked to Office:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30; changed in the first of two dataset releases of 2026-10-05 (descriptors).
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗