#8 Office Design Trends To Follow This Year
Bringing the outdoors inside is an office design trend that won't be going anywhere soon
By Shabnam Gupta •
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Nowadays, the thought and work that go into designing an office is as extensive as designing the home. From layouts to accessories to colors, offices are paying special attention to decide each and every detail so as to boost maximum creativity and productivity in their employees.
As interior architects, our job is to create a physical environment that tells the story of an organization in a way that resonates with not only its leadership and employees, but also their clients.
Flexible Layouts
In today's busy environment with ever changing technology, a well-designed workplace should change effortlessly according to the task at hand. Developing areas that can be easily adapted to suit changing requirements is an essential element of design in 2017. Smart choices in office furniture and design with flexibility in mind will see your workplace buzz along efficiently into the future.
Design For Productive
With the health and well-being of employees being central to design, we see a positive impact on health, happiness, and productivity in the workplace. Things like sit-stand desks, areas for both collaboration and privacy, comfort, airflow, lighting, indoor plant life, accommodating healthy lifestyle options all increase the productive well-being of your staff.
Outdoors In
Bringing the outdoors inside is an office design trend that won't be going anywhere fast, and one that coincides with productive well-being. With office workers spending around eight hours a day inside, we can see the benefits of bringing more natural elements into the workplace. Ways of incorporating the outdoor inside are by introducing planters, creating live green walls, and by cultivating an awareness for caring for the environment.
Break Out Spaces
With the modern way of working often meaning we're spending much more time at our desks, glued to our computer screens, the idea of a break out area is becoming increasingly attractive to employees.
A break out area describes any space open to employees or visitors that is separate from their usual working area. It can be a place for employees to relax, eat their lunch and even hold informal meetings — thus, breaking them away from the computer screen.
Authentic Design
The sudden surge in demand for authentic design right now is the ability of a designer to portray the commitment of the organization to its core values. Our job would be to create the physical environment that echoes not only what the leadership stands for or its employees but also the clientele they cater to.
There's no standard way of going about this, the key way forward would be to listen in carefully to what is asked of from the client. By gaining an understanding of the history, mission and objectives we can go ahead and create a design centered on these elements. The result would be an office that speaks for itself through its interiors, the moment one steps in they get a gist of what the company stands for.
Accidental Collisions
Accidental Collision is a good sort of collision- under the right circumstances, it helps an office environment in a big way. These orchestrated chance meetings encourage employees to connect in ways they never knew were possible. These unexpected conversations create opportunities for collaborations between unlikely partners, in turn, fostering a productive and satisfied workforce. Companies can go ahead and create these unexpected chance meetings by creating work settings that drive the same idea.
Home From Home
Another trend that's sweeping in would be the creation of office spaces that resonate a sense of home. Domestic influences would play a huge role in this sort of design approach. Spaces like these give staff the freedom to choose where and how they work. Places they would prefer to work in whether by themselves or in a group. Addition of more lounging areas and casual seating arrangements.
Inspiring Walls
Another pop artsy trend is that of bold wall art that tells a story or makes a sort of connect with an individual. Certain spaces can be embellished with this cool graffiti and pop art styled walls. This surely brings in a contemporary and diverse look to the design concept and permeates a space with character. We not only use arty designs or prints but also uplifting, encouraging and empowering words, done up in well written bold print. This surely speaks volumes to employees and clients both, creating an ambience that encourages uplift of others and of one self.
