2022 Office Design Trends
The old design maxim “form follows function” dictates that the design of a space should primarily be related to its intended purpose.
As we move, slowly but surely, past the global pandemic that has gripped us over the last couple of years, we are beginning to see an evolution in office design to accommodate the new world of work. Today, companies and their workers are demanding an office space that is more flexible, with more shared spaces and plenty of extra amenities included.
Traditional office life is by no means dead, but with the rise of remote working and a new sense of how business should be done, companies would be well-served to accommodate a more modern office design or risk being left behind.
What does the modern office space look like?
Collaboration and comfort are key ingredients
A winning company is made up of many small successful teams, and good teams need a certain energy to prosper and grow. The design of office environments can play a large part in achieving this dynamic.
Office design that can evoke and inspire a collaborative energy will be a key part of many companies’ success, and in design terms this can mean a reduction (or elimination) of large, traditional private office spaces in favor of shared spaces that inspire more collaboration between team members. Other ideas might include knocking down walls in favor of more open concept spaces, relocating conference rooms, reimagining assigned seating arrangements and adding hot desks and other flexible workstations.
Making these office design changes can be an involved process, but making changes to your layout can pay dividends for years to come, attracting higher quality workers and improving the work lives of your current group of employees.
Privacy is still important
Sure, having an office design concept that prioritizes shared spaces is a great idea, but that doesn’t mean that your employees won’t also need their privacy when they need some quiet time to think, or an enclosed meeting space for short, ad-hoc conversations with coworkers.
Today’s modern office designs require companies to reimagine spaces and build in private enclaves that can be so important for productivity. Luckily, doing so is not as difficult as you think!
Office buildings can be relatively easily redesigned, as long as you have an office construction partner that specializes in converting commercial spaces, so that you can continue to focus on your core business during the transition period.
Let there be light!
A happy worker is a more productive worker, and many offices can improve the work life of their teams by including more natural lighting in their design schemes. Natural light has been shown to provide a number of benefits, including positive effects on our circadian rhythms and vitamin D levels, among others.
Along with good air quality and more plants (green walls, anyone?), more natural lighting has also been shown to improve cognitive functions and the ability to learn, boosting the mood and overall attitude of your workforce. It’s no wonder that adding more natural light is one of the top office design trends of this year!
Related to the first section above, by removing or relocating some private offices with windows (which are typically located around the edges of a commercial office space), your business can add more light to the office, and brighten the day-to-day experience of your employees.
An upgraded office layout includes upgraded office furniture
Offices used to be designed around the necessity for large desks made for one, and these large workstations were required in part to accommodate big, bulky computers, printers, telephones, and all the other 20th century office accouterments we are so familiar with. However, today’s technology (laptops, tablets, cell phones) don’t require quite so much space. This provides an opportunity.
Along with replacing large, single desks with shared tables and workspaces, individual desks themselves can also be replaced by more lightweight options, which opens up square footage that a good office design firm can use to reimagine you future office space.
Rethinking the role of office furniture can also be an opportunity to improve those small but important details that add to a worker’s satisfaction and peace of mind during a typical workday. Functional changes could be as simple as finding ways to make it easier to plug in your computer. After all, who wants to crawl under a desk to find an outlet?
While power plug options might seem like a small change easy to accommodate, very often redesigning an office requires a great deal of A-to-Z forethought, focused attention to detail, and ground-up thinking. This is something you can only find with skilled professionals that do workplace reorganization full time.
Have Questions? Ask WDI Group
Companies like the WDI Group know interior design, and can do more than simply adjust your office layouts. Their work can boost the operational efficiency of companies, improving the overall well being of your full time staff on site, as well as remote workers.
No detail is too small, and they’ll be happy to help you make changes to everything from energy efficiency to adding more natural materials to replacing outdated furniture to completely redesigning and rebuilding the space. They are a full-service design firm that understand the connection between employees, technologies, and spaces within an organization.
A broad expertise
Using their broad expertise in psychology, customer engagement and workplace organization, WDI Group’s experienced workplace interior designers will do more than create a set of strategic plans. They can manage construction, handle permits, coordinate trade workers, liaise with commercial landlords, and so much more.
From initial concepts to project management to construction and cleanup, their hybrid workplace design process even involves helping employees transition to their new work environment, all while keeping projects on time and on budget.
Contact them today for a consultation, and see what they can do for your organization!
