Adina Brunetti: How To Design Your Office Space
Office design in the 21st century solves not only ergonomic tasks as it used to be a couple of decades ago. A well-thought-out look of the office shows customers the concept of the whole company. The interior must sell products before a potential buyer sees it. A cozy and beautiful office arouses the desire of applicants to work in this company, which means that design solves the issue of hiring employees.
Global corporations often allow employees to work on a free schedule. Including at night. And in the office everything should be arranged in such a way that it would be comfortable for a person to be at home in it.
Caring for the health of employees, large companies equip sports halls next to classrooms.
Ergonomics of the workplace are aimed at productivity and, as a result, at the development of the entire company as a whole. Thus, the office today solves many problems and the design project must take into account each of them.
Layout: Zone Definition
When developing the office plan, the designer takes into account the interests of the company’s leaders, all employees and customers, the reception of which will take place in this building. It is necessary to maintain the general style, but remember the tasks that each zone solves.
Reception
Reception introduces customers, partners who came to the negotiations, and potential employees with the company. In this zone, everyone who is unfamiliar with the company makes up the first impression. Therefore, the design should only cause positive emotions.
The front desk interior displays a corporate style. A reception desk is installed for the administrator, convenient for the employee and guests. This is the main object and it is often made to order.
It is necessary to create a corner where guests will spend time waiting in comfort. It is better not to use partitions designed for the working area, but to replace them with living plants in tubs.
Conference room and meeting room
The meeting room differs from other office rooms in a simple design. A minimum of decor - all the attention of visitors should be directed to the issues addressed. The area of the conference room is calculated based on the maximum number of participants in large meetings.
The central object in the interior of the hall is a massive meeting table. For security reasons and from a psychological point of view, it is better to be round. This also applies to meeting room furniture. There are no dominant persons at the round table; everyone speaks equally.
Head office
The interior should highlight the head of the company, but it is important not to overdo it. It is unethical to put leather sofas in the office for millions and cover the floor with expensive carpets, when all other rooms are furnished with chipboard furniture and designed in a minimalist style.
The design of the place for the leader should be quite strict. Business processes allow heads of companies to receive customers in their own office, but not at the desktop. This room should have a corner for receiving guests. Zones can be distinguished by mobile partitions, screens, furniture. It is appropriate to hang up award sheets on the walls and set aside a corner for the corresponding elements. Do not forget about personal space. Ideally, if the office has a fenced lounge area where you can place more decor
than in the rest of the room.
Lounge, relaxation area, gym
Most often, company employees relax in the kitchen, where they can talk about personal matters over a cup of tea or lunch. Here, the interior design should provide for storage areas, installed household appliances. Refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, kettle - a necessary minimum. Tables, sofas and armchairs are installed.
The main principle in zone planning: rest is at the same time a change of place and a change of activity.
In the offices of large corporations, in addition to the kitchen, there is a place for relaxation zones and / or gyms. The relaxation room can only partially correspond to the general style of the office. Finishing, furniture, sound, light - everything is aimed at ensuring that an employee can temporarily forget about work processes and switch his mind to another channel.
The gym is equipped depending on the area allocated for it. A treadmill is installed, a place for exercises with free weights is determined. Often there is a separate room for yoga. If such premises are provided by the project, one should not forget about the rooms where employees can change clothes and take a shower.
Workplace
In working areas all the principles of ergonomics are involved: safety, functionality, aesthetics, health care.
Most often, offices are planned on the principle of open space, but even with this placement, each employee has the right to a personal zone when no one bothers anyone. Places are demarcated by mobile partitions with soundproofing. You can separate the table for each employee or delimit the room into microzones of 4-5 workplaces. Feeling that the room is cramped cannot be allowed.
Classic Office
Rooms are provided for different departments of the company. This type of planning favorably affects the performance of employees, causes a more trusting relationship. With the cabinet type, it is necessary to carefully consider the communication routes between departments.
Despite the division of office space by walls, a single style remains in the design of all rooms.
Open Space
In favor of open spaces, managers often come out of economic considerations. After all, according to the standards for each room, it is necessary to establish their own engineering systems.
Leaving space completely without partitions is not recommended. It is psychologically difficult for many people to work, knowing that there is someone behind. And if more than four people are constantly in front of your eyes, this also negatively affects productivity.
In open space, the so-called cubes are organized - individual fenced off zones. The choice of partition material comes from the project budget. But it is preferable to take screens with a sound-absorbing effect. Especially if the office is equipped for call centers.
In the working area a minimum of decor. Valid corporate style elements. You can include in the interior design odorless living plants, not blooming.
Interior Style
The style of the office reflects the essence of the company. Ideally, if the interior design logically continues the corporate identity, provided that it has established itself in the market and the company does not plan to rebrand.
