Catch Up on the Latest Trends in Office Interior Design
With each passing year, designers come up with new ways to make offices more efficient and comfortable for workers. A few of these ideas seem like they would make workers less productive, but the introduction of these trends has led to work environments becoming much more productive, since they make workers much happier. If you are looking to refresh your office, let us give you some inspiration.
Check out some of the hottest trends in interior office design, and familiarize yourself with all the latest developments.
Sharable Office Spaces
As time goes on, collaboration is becoming an essential element in the office space. Companies want workers to team up on big projects so they can be finished faster, and offices are being redesigned in ways that inspire workers to do that. Designers have been working to introduce new furniture that multiple workers can share at the same time.
Larger desks, for example, are brought in so several workers are able to work together in one place. To accommodate this new furniture, offices are now being built with large common areas that workers can use to meet up and discuss projects that need to be discussed. This type of design can even get different teams from your company to bounce ideas off one another.
Designing offices to focus on collaboration can also save companies a lot of money, since more focus is placed on developing a single open space.
Experience-Driven Office Spaces
Another popular trend from this past year involves redefining how employees interact with their office spaces. This involves the introduction of “experience-driven” spaces, new elements brought into the workspace that focus on the worker experience. The rooms introduced are designed to relieve stress, build a sense of community among workers, and dramatically improve company morale.
Elements introduced can include meditation areas, coffee bars, game rooms, and other similar rooms. Some companies with extra money to spare have even built rock walls for employees to use. All of these elements are designed with one purpose: to make workers happier. Happy workers are more efficient, and are able to get a lot more work done.
Focus on Concentration Spaces
Though open offices are great for inspiring collaboration, some workers still need quiet spaces to use when they need to work alone. Concentration spaces have become increasingly popular over the past year, since they minimize noise and outside distractions, which is great for workers that need absolute quiet while they work. The lack of distractions also make them helpful for workers that need to make video or phone calls.
These spaces can take many forms, and are frequently designed to look like libraries, since everyone naturally stays quiet in them. Other forms of concentration spaces include lounges and cafés, but as long as noise is minimized inside a location it can be considered a concentration space. Not all tasks have to be done collaboratively, so giving workers options is always a good idea.
Biophilia-Inspired Designs
Past studies have shown that workers are happier and more efficient when natural elements, such as plants, are introduced into the office. This plays into the idea of biophilia, which states that humans feel obligated to connect with nature, due to our desire to learn about life. This has led to the trend of biophilic office designs in the past few years.
Designers that follow this trend incorporate plants, trees, and other forms of life in order to create a positive workspace for employees. This type of design can make the office healthier as well, since plants are able to clean the air of toxins and improve the air quality. Essentially, the idea is to transform the office into an indoor garden, so to speak.
Interested in a free office furniture consultation? Reach out to Big Cat Solutions today to learn more.
