The Best Trends in Office Design You Should Know About Today
The modern workplace is vastly different from the workplaces of the past. There is more emphasis on working closely together while maintaining personal distance, and more open spaces exist than ever. Lots of office spaces are promoting equality as a general rule, and gone are the enclosed, private spaces reserved for the big bosses and the VIP lounges, and the VIP dining spaces! Most modern offices today are making all employees feel more welcome, and if you are looking to revamp your own office and workplace, here are the best trends in office design you should know about today.
What it is: then and now
Workplaces or office spaces in the past were often seen as dreary, drab places with furniture that was uninspiring – and worse, not easy to use or not comfortable at all. There was no comfort in offices before – it was all about being productive and efficient, and it wasn’t about being creative or enlightened. The offices today are a different matter altogether – in fact, you could go as far as to say that they are the opposite of workplaces in the past. In today’s office, it’s all about comfort combined with functionality, and employees are encouraged to be as creative as possible – and the office or workplace has become a truly inspirational and motivational space. If you want your workplace to epitomize today’s workplace, several trends will inspire you and point you in the right direction.
Materials promoting a positive attitude
If you want to redecorate your office and achieve a whole new look, you can start with the materials you use in the workplace. For instance, offices in the 50s all the way to the 90s were often partitioned off to create individual workstations. While this was all well and good in the past, it doesn’t work as well today. The modern workplace features fewer partitions and more open spaces. Many offices are built this way today, and the most popular example is the offices of Google. You can also achieve this openness by using glass partitions. In fact, office partitions in Sydney are the latest trend and many offices use them for an open and inclusive office design.
Many offices today are also using brickslips as cladding, which is ideal for the modern corporate space because it has a way of bringing cosiness and warmth to the space. With brick slip walls, you can incorporate both the traditional and the modern into one space, and the merging of the two is excellent at creating a ‘real’ look and inspires creativity and balance.
A place that reminds you of home
Today’s offices and workplaces are also spaces that remind everyone of home. Gone are the days when people would go to work and emerge from their workstations at 5 pm on the dot! As employees and staff work, they should feel proud of their work and happy that they are doing their work. This is why many workplaces feature amenities and facilities that make workers feel at home – it has truly become a home away from home, with gyms, pantries, fully-stocked kitchens, break rooms, and the like.
The workplace is built as such today to encourage employees and workers to stay. When workers are fulfilled at their workplace, they are much more likely to stay. Also, smart employers know that the office has to be a fun place to work – this is why more workplaces are offering games and whatnot for employees to have fun – and see the work they do as fun as well.