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This is how you create your modern office design!
Today, employees in particular place high demands on their employers and the environment in which they work. Offices are no longer just pure workplaces, but ideally places where employees like to come, which motivate them and offer plenty of space for creative ideas. But what exactly does modern office design look like that is visually beautiful and functional at the same time?
A functional and modern office design, often developed by accomplished designers, promotes a productive working environment and is the optimum that every company strives for today. The effect is happy, motivated employees and maximum performance.
Various ideas and concepts are realised that are precisely adapted to the individual needs of companies and employees in order to create a clear and pleasant working atmosphere. The feel-good aspect is the top priority when it comes to creating a modern office design.
What makes modern office design?
Especially in the post-Corona era, many companies are asking themselves how they can adapt classic open-plan offices to the new working world and the new needs of their employees. In doing so, we can learn a lot from modern office designs like the Google Offices and thus create a new world of working.
The goal: to create a feel-good atmosphere so that employees enjoy coming to the office. This means that modern office design must take into account both the physical and mental aspects, since much of social life takes place in the office. This in turn means that modern offices not only enable productive work, but also a perfect work-life balance - and that in the workplace.
The secret recipe here is flexibility: thus, modern office design features a variety of communication options, meeting niches and modern office furniture that satisfies individual employee needs.
The design of an office depends on various factors such as the number of employees, the structure of the room and the various work processes.
Modern office design is now characterized by the fact that both the wishes of the employees and scientific findings from occupational science and ergonomics are integrated. Particularly, ensuring proper ergonomics at the workplace has become a key focus to promote employee well-being and productivity.
Accordingly, modern office design is not only translated by a modern look of the office space. Health-promoting furniture and the desire for flexible work processes also take on great importance.
Ultimately, the trick is to translate modern office ideas into real-world practice. The good news is that a plain room can be transformed into a modern workspace with the right office design. In doing so, the space by no means needs to be reinvented. Beautiful planting, ergonomic office furniture, more living room flair, and the integration of focus and quiet zones are just a few examples of how modern office design can be implemented.
Furnishings for a modern office design
If you spend 8 hours in the office, you also need to feel comfortable. With modern office designs that are functional and homely, companies achieve that their employees enjoy coming to the office and can work more efficiently.
The secret of modern office designs with a maximum feel-good factor: living room feeling in the work environment. Comfortable lounge areas and relaxed sofa corners, for example, enable both informal exchanges between work and a short nap that employees can take between two tasks.
A comfortable and homely office atmosphere has been proven to promote creativity and employee satisfaction.
Today, healthy office furniture is standard. Ergonomic chairs and adjustable desks, for example, allow employees to alternate between standing and sitting while working. In addition, plants promote a pleasant indoor climate and keep humidity levels high. When it comes to lighting, the focus is also on using as many natural light sources as possible, supplemented by artificial ones as needed. This ensures optimal illumination of all work surfaces. A balanced colour interplay of furniture, walls and floors is crucial to creating a homely and modern office design. Bright colours can be advantageous for creative work, while more subtle nuances are generally the best option to keep a calm feel in the office space. Read more about lighting in the office!
Office furniture for collaboration
In the new world of work, there is a great focus on collaborative work areas. So teamwork is an essential part of modern office design - and consequently, so is appropriate office furniture that encourages and facilitates it.
Free-standing media units that help employees project their work onto a screen and share it with colleagues, acoustic pods for undisturbed meetings, and large meeting tables with power outlets and task lighting are essential components of modern office design.
Why is modern office design so important?
Especially after Corona and in the age of New Work, the office is much more than just a workplace for employees today. The office is a communication centre and becomes a meeting place where people exchange ideas with colleagues, even in an informal context.
Only a beautiful and modern office design that is coherent in itself ensures a harmonious working environment and a real feel-good atmosphere. Only in this way can motivation and willingness to perform be increased.
In addition, a beautiful office has an image-enhancing effect and represents a competitive advantage for companies, so that they can attract the most sought-after applicants.
Modern office design & office concepts
The working world is changing - today perhaps more than ever before. The advent of digitization and agile working methods is changing how and where we work. Companies that want to keep up with developments need to implement modern, smart office concepts that encourage open and creative exchange. Open-plan offices and individual offices will increasingly become a thing of the past and be replaced by modern office designs.
You can learn more about office concepts and office planing in our other article.
Modern office design in the smart office
What is true regardless of the office concept: modern office designs rely 100% on the smart office.
So what is a smart office?
The Smart Office uses modern building technology that strengthens employee performance and enables efficient and economical use of space. Smart Office spaces also flexibly adapt to different requirements, creating focus zones, areas for short meetings, and team meetings. At the same time, value is placed on the responsible and efficient use of resources. Innovative lighting control solutions, for example, ensure increased energy savings.
Modern office design: the open space office
The open space office is basically a form of open-plan office in which work areas of different sizes are divided into different sub-areas. Thus, there are designated zones for meetings, confidential conversations and teamwork. This leads to employees changing their workstations several times a day according to their tasks, instead of spending the entire workday at their desks.
Advantages of Open Space Office
An open communication structure facilitates collaboration. Transparent work due to short distances and simplified creative exchange.
Disadvantages of Open Space Office
Disturbing background noise. Little privacy.
Modern office design: Desk sharing
The desk-sharing model is of increasing interest to many companies, especially due to the changes associated with Corona. In desk sharing, there are no longer fixed workstations, and personal items are stored in lockers or rolling containers.
How did the desk-sharing model come about? In most cases, workstations in offices are only partially occupied because some employees are engaged in consulting or fieldwork. In Germany, for example, the average absence time is 70%. Since Corona and with the introduction of hybrid work models, this number could increase further.
Advantages Desk Sharing
- Workstation savings through more efficient workloads
- Cost savings through savings in office space
- Easy switching between workstations facilitates creative processes
- Clean desk policy leads to more cleanliness and order in the office
Disadvantages Desk Sharing
- Employees lose a possible anchor point with their personal desk
- Daily stress of searching for a workstation
- Fixed teams no longer sit together
Modern office design: the reversible office
The reversible office is probably the most promising model of modern office design and is characterized primarily by maximum flexibility.
Flexible offices allow employees to access different areas instead of fixed workstations with personal desks. Thus, modern offices are divided into different zones, which turns classic open-plan offices into offices in modern office design. There are no restrictions as far as furniture and thus working is concerned.
The reversible office is designed in such a way that it can be quickly and easily reconfigured for different teams or tasks. Thus, there are as few fixed walls as possible. Instead, partition systems and desks can be set up and moved as needed, creating individual and group offices as well as areas for meetings or teamwork.
Large, open spaces are subdivided by mobile partitions and soundproofed cubicles, and modern office lighting ensures that all areas are brightly and enough illuminated. Ideally, all luminaires in the office are also dimmable.
All employees can move freely around the office at any time. The result: a positive effect on health and motivated employees who are more efficient.
Advantages of reversible offices
- flexibly adaptable
- creative processes are in the foreground
- communication-promoting
Disadvantages of reversible offices
- possible conversion costs
- are not suitable for every company structure
Modern office design: trends for new offices
Modern office design is also, nd above all, modern when it incorporates current trends. The current trend is towards sustainability and naturalness.
Biophilic office design
Biophilic office design focuses on the natural world: plenty of daylight through large windows, natural materials such as wood, organic patterns and colours, and plants in a wide variety of forms from vertical gardens to indoor Flowerbeds create a relaxed atmosphere.
Incorporating nature creates a calming and stress-free environment that lowers stress levels and increases employee concentration and energy levels.
Natural & recycled materials
Long-term, resource-efficient planning is becoming increasingly important for businesses as sustainability continues to play a bigger role in the future. For example, there are already more office materials made from recycled materials than ever before.
The credo "Greener, more natural" acts as a counterpoint to all the screens and advancing technology that employees are surrounded by in offices.
By the way, sustainability doesn't stop at the materials used in modern offices. Office furnishings are also becoming more and more sustainable. Read more about how you can furnish your office sustainably with an interior designer.
Modern office design: Conclusion
Whether it's a classic open-plan office or a reversible office, modern office design can be implemented for any concept and will prevail in the future working world.
In doing so, companies should align their office design with health aspects as well as the combination of working and feeling good.
Indispensable when redesigning offices: Calling in experts who know how modern office design can best be translated into reality.
So don't hesitate to contact us - the easiest way is to use our contact form.
