If you want to create a workspace that’s functional, innovative, boosts productivity and even helps to attract great staff, don’t be afraid to push the boundaries of office design.
Whether you don’t have a clue where to start or you’re simply looking for a few new ideas, below are some great ways to improve the design of your office and make your company stand out.
Modular desks
Traditional office environments have changed dramatically over the last few decades. While it was once standard for staff to sit in their own cubicle, open offices which provide plenty of flexibility are now commonplace.
In order to help companies embrace this trend, modular desks are gaining in popularity. They can be reconfigured depending on the space available and how many people you have working for you and another huge benefit is that they’re very easy to move around.
Glass design
While there’s nothing you can do about the structure of your existing office, if you’re thinking about relocating, consider a building which incorporates a lot of glass into its design.
Housing your business in an office with a glass roof or walls provides a number of benefits including:
- The architecture of glass buildings is unrivalled and is guaranteed to turn heads.
- One of the most obvious benefits of glass is that it’s transparent and therefore lets in plenty of natural light. This is very important, especially in an office environment where lighting has a huge impact on productivity.
- Another great benefit of glass buildings is that they’re very energy efficient. Natural sunlight warms the building up just like central heating would, glass is an excellent material for thermal insulation and it’s also brilliant at keeping warm air in the building.
Plant design
An increasing number of businesses are incorporating plants into their office design because there are a number of benefits of doing so:
- Studies have found that people generate 15% more ideas when they’re sat in an office with plants.¹
- Indoor plants can improve air quality and remove up to 87% of air toxins in 24 hours.²
- Plants can help to reduce noise levels in buildings by absorbing sounds and deflecting them which is ideal for busy offices.
- They can improve the aesthetics of a building.
- We spend a third of our day in an office but good interior landscaping can give workers access to an indoor garden or views of vegetation. Being close to greenery makes us feel more at ease with our surroundings, we experience less stress when surrounded by plants and they can even help to improve our wellbeing.³
Open work areas
One of the many reasons you don’t often see cubicles in office design anymore is because companies have realised the benefits of promoting collaboration amongst staff. A great way to encourage this is to have open work areas where teams can come together and brainstorm ideas.
As well as being great places to work as part of a team, open work spaces also provide an additional place for individuals who need a change of scenery if they’re struggling to concentrate or stay motivated.
¹ https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/houseplants-spark-productivity
² https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2007/ps_3.html
³ https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk / https://www.gettysburg.edu/news/stories?id=79db7b34-630c-4f49-ad32-4ab9ea48e72b
