A current market trend for corporate office design is to invest in modern and dynamic environments, which increase productivity in the work environment.
In a modern office layout it is important to balance private and collective. Therefore, much is thought about bringing teams together in offices that result from the end of partitions or walls. In the meeting rooms, currently, a glass partition with sound insulation is used.
With the end of the pandemic, many companies are returning to office activities. Comfort is prioritized, that feeling of coziness. In contrast, the team is much more integrated into a smart office that improves productivity.
According to photographic and architectural records from the first half of the 20th century, we can point out some structural aspects of office design that made explicit the ideology and work philosophy of that time.
Among these characteristics, the office layout stands out, which was generally composed of a mezzanine for positions of greater hierarchical relevance. Below were the employees, which reinforced the company’s structure. In addition, large meeting rooms and luxurious individual offices for executives were common.
These environments created physical barriers and segregated spaces in the workplace, making it difficult to integrate the office.
After the 1950s, the modernist concept of functionality, inspired by architects and authors such as Le Corbusier, reinforced the hierarchical character of condominiums and focused almost exclusively on productivity.
In the 1960s, there was the expansion and creation of the collective rest area, such as a pantry and decompression room, as the workload increased and employees needed a space to rest and have small meals.
In the 1970s and 1980s, divisions were reduced according to work, and efforts were made to improve ergonomics in offices, with the inclusion of anthropometric parameters and the use of elements such as ventilation and natural light in the architecture.
From the 1990s to the present, office furniture used to be mostly made of solid wood — it has been losing space to lighter and more discreet furniture, made from MDF, plastic and other materials.
Modern office design is becoming increasingly clean, spacious and integrated, and furniture is used to reinforce these characteristics and align productivity in the work environment with quality of life in a humanized workspace.
Environments such as the decompression room are part of the modern office layout and have become a trend in order to introduce these new features to contemporary offices.
Among the most relevant aspects of the office project, the following stand out:
– the café open to the public;
– the wooden deck;
– the harmony of the building with its surroundings, an increasingly common requirement in contemporary projects of sustainable architecture.
– video games;
– dogs;
– libraries;
– unconventional meeting spaces.
The space is very integrated, without the placement of excessive partitions, and with the arrangement of several sofas in common spaces.
HOW TO MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT MORE DYNAMIC WITH A MODERN OFFICE DESIGN?
The modern office projects presented above provide some tips on how it is possible to work to modernize corporate environments through a well-constructed project, but let’s recap the main tips so that there is no doubt.
INVEST IN PORTABLE FURNITURE
There are days when the team needs to be integrated, working together to come up with ideas or find solutions to specific problems.
At other times, the employee needs privacy to solve their day-to-day tasks or set up a plan for their area. The demand for modern office design with flexible space is always growing.
Tables and chairs, therefore, should be designed for this purpose, facilitating their movement.
ADOPT OPEN SPACE
Open space is that environment without walls or divisions between the teams that came to appear in some examples.
It allows, for example, interns to work in the same space as directors.
This breaking of the convention is intended to bring the entire team together and improve the flow of internal communication between the areas.
OFFER MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPACES
Making the most of space is the key to any modern office project. A meeting room, for example, can be the same room where employees can take a nap or play video games during breaks: the so-called decompression room.
When creating modern office design it is essential to understand the company’s goals and problems. Only then can creative solutions emerge, aiming to solve individual cases.
Take some ideas presented in these inspirations and transform them into modern office projects according to the client’s needs.
