Introduction
What happens when a potential client – or employee – walks into the office for the first time? What do they see? Are they still catching a glimpse of the lifeless cubicles and heads stuck onto screens behind them? Or do they place themselves in the think-box which promises ideas, innovation, and creativity?
Designing interiors for an office is like giving the company a face. It not only adds brand value but also creates a visual representation of the brand’s principles. These impacts can be made by choosing the right colour aesthetics, furniture, layout, and planning of the space, and finding the right people to execute the vision of the business. Material Depot can assist you to find all of those.
Know your Audience
- Design for the business
The office is the reflection of the business it represents. Besides being a place of business, the physical workspace can become a representation of happy work culture, monetizing on a strong identity and boosting the core values of the business. To make the experience memorable, the space needs to be infused with the company’s culture and personality.
- Design for employees
The words, “You are not alone.” have helped the world get through a very notorious time with Covid-19. Studies show that prime reasons people want to return to office post-pandemic are to engage with their colleagues and feel a sense of belonging.
Employees associate strongly with the feelings of trust, belonging, inclusivity and resilience. The comfort of the employees of the company is undoubted of paramount importance. Hence, it calls upon the designers to make smart use of spaces and resources to attain maximum comfort for its users.
A workplace has the potential to become an infrastructure for people to build social capital. Interior design strategies for offices should be put in place such that the spaces act as catalysts for engagement, while an individual is allowed the liberty to have his own privacy. Small steps like introducing recreational and group working spaces could be taken to achieve this central goal.
- Design for the size
In the era of working from home and businesses have adapted to functioning in compact spaces with limited resources. It is also the time to ponder on the fundamental layout of an office to meet the changing times and requirements. Micro-scale offices can create an environment that gives comfort and boosts productivity for those occupying it.
A company is an organism that grows and takes with it the employee and clients. It is easier to accommodate in new spaces with a pre-existing identity to be easily familiar. Easy, prototype design can help businesses achieve that.
Here are some interior design solutions for offices that will make your workspace lively
Adaptable, flexible design
Traditional offices are designed for monotony and have rigid boundaries of work and comfort. Organizations are exploring more flexible alternatives in terms of work hours and locations. The built environment they thrive in needs to mimic these ideologies and be flexible enough to adapt to these changes.
The workspaces of today must embrace the present and welcome the future with diverse types of activities and spaces. Modularity in furnishings is an ideal fit by being easily movable to expand and contract to simply accommodate different sizes of groups and activities. A seamless network of digital experiences will also support collaboration as people choose to work in a variety of locations.
Make collaborative spaces open and flexible
An office space design starts with its architecture. Building designers have been working with the idea of open office space plans to facilitate flexible use of space. Shared office spaces are suitable for highly collaborative work where people are required to interact frequently.
Noise, distractions, and lack of privacy are some downfalls to this style of workspace. Businesses that deal with sensitive client information would like to invest in group working spaces such as conference rooms, thinking rooms, libraries, or sometimes, a central lobby like can be converted to make a collaborative space.
Yes, we still need private pods for peace and concentration.
Virtual calls have become the principal manner of conducting trade. Privacy areas or quiet areas can be used to hold these discreet meetings. This distraction-free is also essential for maintaining focus. These settings can be made in the form of private, soundproof booths or an isolated comfort corner, or both.
Interplay of Colors
The bland, uninspiring swatches of white walls, gray filing cabinets, and blue chairs are in history. Adding color to a preconceived dull space is the oldest trick in the book. Red, blue, yellow, and green are known to act as positive stimulants to the human psyche.
These colors can work in tints and tones are desired by the space and the impact that they are required to make. Colors also play a huge role in the branding of the company. Hence, choosing the right colors for your office spaces might be way more essential from the start.
Choose fabrics, wall panels, desks, chairs, and material and color palettes for your offices from our pre-existing lists, or create your own list at Material Depot to put your project together seamlessly.
Tranquil light
A well-lit setting has the ability to maximize a person’s mood, improve work ethos and create an enjoyable office space. Bad lighting is proven to cause a number of issues such as eye strain, severe headaches and bring about negative side effects to the wellbeing of a person. The best practice would be to strike a balance between natural light and artificial lighting sources to give an ergonomic lighting effect.
Let the daylight flood in
There can be no contest to the fact that natural daylight can offer the most productive work environment. Offices that do not have access to exposed sunlight, try to mimic the daylight through artificial lighting. The color and temperature of light are modulated to achieve the right exposure of light in the interior design of the office. The idea is to strike a balance between white and yellow lights.
Not enough sunlight, fix it using artificial light
Ceiling lights or overhead lights are the primary source of artificial light in any space. For an office interior design, these lights should not have glare. It is also integral to position them well such that they are not directly over a desk. Luminaries that come in 3000k, warmer tone for relaxing effect and 4000k, cool and white for reinforcing focus, are widely popular in offices and public spaces.
Tasks lights, such as lamps, should be considered as an accessory with ceiling lights for more concentrated lighting solutions. They are available in small sizes, easy to plug in and allows the users to condition the light for their needs and requirements.
Inclusive comfort
Use biophilic wellness to enrich the environment at work
A biophilic environment is known to boost moods, performance and wellness. It may include elements of nature such as natural light, flowing water, plants, views of green space, nature-themed artwork. Spaces finished using natural materials such as wood and stone can be effective as well.
Imparting a feeling of home through amenities
The biggest change in ways we observe workspaces came along in 2020. The needs of an employee have become greater than a paycheque. Office space design plans have to now keep the social, physical and mental wellbeing of its employees at the forefront of their minds. It is requisite to give them comfort using homey furniture, ergonomic workspaces and recreational facilities.
Some additions that would make users at home are sofas, couches, coffee tables and a few beanbags. Pod seats for the cafeteria and eating spaces have proven to be a big hit.
Booths with snacks, free coffee and quick bites would be highly appreciated too. Some recreational games like foosball and table tennis and exercise areas are enjoyed and encouraged by employees and employers alike.
The employees should be on the forefront while forming interior design considerations. The goal is to cater to their senses and provide for an untroubled user experience. Interior design layout that provides comfort and productivity will lure in employees from their cozy homes back to the hustle-bustle of the office.
