Articles and Trends

2014 Design Trend: City-Inspired Office Spaces

2-private-office-02The world’s most innovative companies are reinventing their offices with great design inspired by well-planned cities. Just like modern cities, offices are busy, full of action, and populated with a group of unique, vibrant individuals—all with different needs, wants, and personalities.

Open office layouts may be trending in modern design, but they’re not for everyone or every company. Some companies complain that their open layout is too hectic, too noisy, or even too open for their employees to actually get work accomplished and stay inspired and focused on their projects.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

Designing your office space like a city allows your team to collaborate organically on projects, provides quieter spaces for those who prefer to work alone, and separates spaces based on the type of work executed in that particular part of the office. If you’re hesitant about creating an entirely open office layout, then designing your office like a city may be the perfect happy medium you and your employees need.

43-seating-11Make a list of all of the types of projects, tasks, and activities your team engages in and ask them to write down what workspace needs and requirements they have. Do they collaborate on group presentations and client work? Will they want to have quieter, more private spaces for individual tasks? Do they need break rooms, recreational spaces, or places for catching up and casually engaging with each other? Your employees deserve to work in a space that suits them. Just like a well-planned city, you can provide all different types of creative workstations, relaxation areas, and spaces that will help every employee—regardless of work style—get inspired, productive, and creative.

Think about the everyday services that cities provide their inhabitants. Are your employees coffee drinkers? Do they love healthy food options? Do they prefer to play sports during lunch breaks and downtime? The possibilities are endless for spaces that provide the comforts and luxuries you’d find as you walk down a major city street.

Strategically placing a centralized “gateway” or hallway in your office will help organize each type of workspace you want to include in the design. A gateway or centralized path naturally directs traffic through the office and makes it easier to find specific work stations and rooms when you need to get from place to place.

Open Office DesignCities were meant to be explored. By creating different spaces for a variety of different purposes, projects, size, occupancy, work styles, and personalities, your team can experiment and see which environments are most conducive to their productivity and creativity. Open spaces often limit the variety of workspaces you can create for your team and they don’t suit all employees. But when you model your space after a well-planned city, your employees are free to roam where they choose, brainstorm or complete projects with whomever they need, and work in the environment and energy that compliments them.

This office design trend is changing the way the world’s most innovative companies work, and it can drastically change your company, too. Great cities know how to cater to their residents. Become your office’s own “city planner” and start creating a dream workspace that your employees will love coming back to day after day.

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