Let's start with....
Why is office design important?
Employee happiness. It's undeniably that we spend 1/3 of our time at work. Unlike previous generations, staff nowadays are not willing to sacrifice their lifetime in dull and boring workplace. Aside from interesting tasks and nice colleagues, the workplace environment also plays an important role in job satisfaction which leads to an increase in productivity levels and therefore a boost in business performance.
Branding & Culture. How your office looks like is also significant for boosting your corporate branding and image. With the rise of social media like Instagram and Facebook, you can use them to showcase your interesting working environment to attract applicants. This will not only be helping in positioning your company as a top employer, it will also bring confident to your clients or business partner that your space is visually appealing and inviting. This is also a great opportunity to reinforce your uniqueness and individual approach.
The days of cubicle farms and cluttered desks are over !
Office design is often seen as a reflection of our product or service. However, they don’t always translate to one another. Therefore, if you are planning to renovate your new office, and also if you value your staff job happiness and productivity, please take the opportunity to reconsider what you want your office to look like. Here are some simple tips that inspired based on our project to help you create an inspiring place to work.
1. Flex spaces boost productivity
A flexible office design creatively combines the changing needs of different individuals’ style of working. In other word, flexible office provides your employees the flexibility and options to choose where to work at different points of time. Many corporations are incorporating work-life balance and flexibility enhancers like napping stations, health bars, and fully-outfitted recharge rooms, while encouraging more work-from-home and hot desking cultures.
Instead of chaining to your desk, moving around the office or change to another working spot in the office might help to escape productivity-drain and re-boost your moods and energy. A shared space might also give you a freewheeling brainstorming session when you’re struggling in finding inspiration.
To adopt this design trend, you can just simply create different zones with furniture to adapt different moods.
Design open plan workspaces for team bonding and collaboration success.
Consider privacy pods and one-person booth for focused work.
Create chill-out zones for quality recharge with soft seating, sofa, coffee table etc.
Create more spaces for better work-life balance like gyms, healthy cafeterias, furnished kitchen etc.
2. The furniture is bolder than ever
The old and dull office furniture is bidding farewell as office design trend now showcase more colours and personality. Contrasting colours are predicted to garner the most demand for 2020. Besides visual spectacle, contrasting colours also have a practical use that different colours can be used to help visitors find their way around, complement designated work areas, and creates a mood that is conducive to the activity being performed.
Also, combination of bolder styles of furniture helps to maintain higher levels of focus and interest. As employees nowadays respond better to office design that surprises, inspires, and makes working more interesting. In other words, we’re going to see more colours, shapes, and decor in the office, in particularly bright and bold tones.
In this project, different styles of design were incorporated in each floor. In general, this office’s image conforms to a modern industrial theme with a touch of casual chic to it. The highlight in this project is the yellow spiral staircase that connects with the first floor and the mezzanine floor which were additionally built for conference meeting. On the first floor, the colour schemes were based on their striking corporate colour - yellow & black. On the second floor, the colour scheme is rather serious and formal - grey & black.
3. Bring Natural and Organic Elements into Your Interiors
Environmental wellness design isn’t necessarily new, yet this design trend continues to evolve and grow diversifies in innovative and exciting ways. The rising awareness on diminishing of the Earth’s resources have made it even more apparent, and it is a design aesthetic we can’t duplicate. Therefore, natural and organic elements for interior design is quickly becoming a solution to the problem. With the effort to bring the natural world back into the urban setting, it is common that large concrete buildings now focusing on biophilia.
Offices are now going beyond placing a few plants around. They are integrating nature through natural forms, colors, textures and lighting. Most popular biophilic design elements including living or green walls, indoor greenhouses, rooftop gardens, naturally lit glass panels, stone surfaces, as well as green water systems and air purification systems. Biophilic design also benefits in reducing stress, boost energy and creativity and improve employee performance and job satisfaction.
Brick as a backdrop or as a focal point
Back in the early years, brick is produced as a solid and sturdy building component material, which is using the natural process of using mud, clay and water and firing it at high temperatures. Today’s brick has become a modern design and remain untouched by many materials. Its uniformity in pattern makes a stylish backdrop for industrial and traditional styles designs. Besides having the obvious textural variance that it offers, adding a smartly finished and sealed brick wall would give completely different feels. You can choose to leave brick in its natural state as a focal point, or paint over brick to use it as a subtle backdrop to showcase its reveals.
Wooden That Be Nice?
Most office environments today are all about normal whiteboard drywall construction with metal cubicles. As people has become more conscious of environmental sustainability, many companies are shifting towards a sustainable workspace. This best practice is not only saving natural resources, but also in increasing the employee well-being.
Sustainable office designs are seeking out materials that are eco-friendly and recyclable. Companies are now incorporating sustainably sourced woodwork and natural accents details into office designs. Sustainable wood comes from sustainably managed forests that are handled to prevent damage to eco-systems, wildlife and the trees themselves.
Sustainable design features like prefabricated wood and glass offices, elaborately constructed wood and moss walls, coffee tables made from preserved tree stumps, and refined, reclaimed woods, are all popular additions to the new sustainable office space design.
Bring in natural light as a design element
Natural light is one of the most preferred office design elements and essential in any organic workspace that can improve working moods and productivity, and lower electricity costs.
With enough natural light, employees would feel more awake and energised, thus to boost their motivations and productivity.
To fully utilise of natural light, companies use different daylighting design techniques, such as adding lightly coloured and smooth interior surfaces that reflect light. You can also utilise smart lighting solutions to complement natural light, and creatively make use of any outdoor or rooftop spaces based on the buildings and space.
In this project, thanks to the high ceiling and glass wall which allows sufficient natural light pass through the workplace at ground floor. At director’s room, muted tones and white Carrara marble are the main surfaces that used throughout the room. Complimented with natural light, it definitely aided the room’s aesthetic and modernness.
Project: Rams Solution Office, Cyberjaya Project Type: Design & Built
Property Type: Shoplot
Property Size: 5000 sqft
Completion Year: April 2020
Project Cost: RM 700,000
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