In the past, commercial spaces have been flat, boring, and focused on uniformity. But over the years, studies on business, psychology, and happiness at work have shown that a well-designed workplace can significantly affect productivity. A simple tweak in the layout, color scheme, and choice of furniture pieces affects the comfort of employees, enhancing their morale. This is the reason offices today are designed with the employees in mind, instead of uniformity. Doing this is a way to foster a working environment that’s safe and comfy for the team.
Why Does It Matter to Choose Budget-Friendly, Energy-Efficient Design?
Recently, there’s also a growing preference for energy-efficient designs. And this coincides with the growing concern on excessive carbon footprint. According to Mobile Modular Portable Storage, adopting shipping container offices is one of the alternate and energy-efficient options to traditional offices. What’s also good about pursuing sustainability is the fact that it helps entrepreneurs cut costs on resources without compromising the operations. Contemporary offices are meant to maximize the company’s resources as much as it’s designed to aid the team’s productivity.
Design Ideas You Might Like to Consider
Are you now planning to tweak your office design to lower your energy cost? Or are you looking forward to boost your team’s morale by making sure their working environment is conducive to productivity? If yes, you might like to follow one or more of the following design inspirations – these could help you save and reduce energy consumption:
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Multifunctional Rooms
Today’s business meetings go beyond the usual roundtable discussion. You also have to make room for Skype meetings and video presentations. With this in mind, make sure that your conference rooms are fitted with projectors, speakers, and insulating wall panels. These features allow you to use different media types during meetings while keeping the discussions at a level of transparency to those involved.
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Open Spaces
Collaboration is the key to speed things up. So be sure to set aside an area in the office where employees can sit together and work on the same project. Consider having office acoustic tiles for this area to control the noise.
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Retractable Walls and Temporary Partitions
Yes, open spaces are great for collaboration. However, you might also have projects that require your employees to focus and work independently. Instead of having concrete partitions that limit the space, having modular privacy wall panels gives you flexibility and portability, especially when you need to conduct one-on-one coachings and discussions.
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Dynamic Designs
Without concrete walls, your office becomes more flexible. You can easily move furniture pieces around, setting them aside for one-on-one discussions or grouping them together for group meetings. You can easily rearrange the interior to make space either for weekend parties or investor meetings.
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Minimalism
Minimalism doesn’t mean you scrimp on furniture pieces. Instead, it means buying the ones you need the most and replacing those fixed, bulky ones with space-efficient options. Overhead cabinets, wall hooks, open shelves, and wall mounted screens are the perfect picks to maximize space and make the interior easily navigable.
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Color Integration Through Furniture, Art, Decor, and Lighting
Have you been repainting the office regularly to add a touch of color to the area? To cut the cost on office painting, consider adding a pop of color to your office through wall art and apt lighting. You can have LED light tubes and panel lights. Choose the right color scheme for your office furniture pieces. In many studies on productivity and office design, shades of blues and greens have been seen as the best colors to enhance focus and efficiency. Blue is a perfect background to make other accent colors stand out. Green gives a calming effect. And yellow helps stimulate creativity.
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Shared Spaces and Work Lounges
Give your employees some variety in their working area by having lounges and shared spaces. As they can do their work with laptops and other mobile devices, there should be no reason for them to be tied in one place. This setup also gives them room to interact with others, socialize, and collaborate, helping them be more efficient in their tasks.
Gone are the days when office spaces exude a dull, boring, and formal vibe. Today’s offices take on a more homely ambience to foster a favorable working environment for employees. And this isn’t’ just for the benefit of the team. Ultimately, improving the design of the office also helps the company lower its office maintenance and energy consumption cost.