workspaces
NIYA NIKOLOVA, INTERIOR DESIGNER AT ROAR As we spent the last year dealing with uncertainty, both in our personal and professional lives, our office dynamics have evolved and are taking a completely new form for 2021 and the years to come. The elusive idea of ‘work-life balance’ now has a whole new meaning after we have experienced the benefits of working from home in a safe and comfortable environment. We know that the office space will continue to be crucial, but the question many organisations are asking themselves now is: How do we entice people to come back to the office after months of working from the comfort of their homes? It is clear that now, more than ever, a human-centric focus on employee’s physical and mental wellbeing needs to take centre stage. This is directly related not only to talent retention but also to increased productivity, work morale, empowerment, creativity and, as a result, company profitability. There is enormous potential for making a positive impact on employee wellbeing by creating a hybrid model of the office as we know it – something we ourselves at Roar are taking into account extensively for our brand new studio that is coming up by the end of this year! For example: an open layout and modular, stackable furniture that [together] encourage collaboration and inspiration but
also provide the opportunity to tuck everything away for a weekly team yoga session. At the same time the space should offer great acoustics and the privacy we often need for our video calls or the more focused tasks – with work pods and quiet zones catering to the multitude of personalities we find in any office. Why not take an afternoon power nap? Research shows that a 30-minute snooze helps us to recharge and refocus on the tasks at hand by improving our alertness and memory. This is why we are also implementing a nap room in our brand-new studio. Biophilia, natural light and air ventilation are the other crucial aspects of wellbeing-focused spaces that we cannot overlook. As we spend most of our day indoors, incorporating elements of the outside world in the office design is instrumental in fulfilling our fundamental need to connect to nature. But let’s not forget ‘the heart’ of every ‘home’: the kitchen – or in this case the pantry and that great cup of morning coffee. Creating a comfortable and inviting space for the team to eat together is crucial to bonding and further nurturing the meaningful relationships our human brains so crave. It is all about those simple and thoughtful solutions that really make a world of difference in our work life! And, keeping along the lines of bonding together in a flexible and acoustically serene space, the piece of furniture I have been drawn to recently is Molo’s soft collection of space partitions, seating, tables and lighting – they’re so much fun [and] all of them come in beautiful colours and are easily foldable!
Early Childhood Authority, designed by roar Molo’s soft collection by Stephanie Forsythe + Todd MacAllen THE INNOVATORS ISSUE
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