Adaptable Offices

ADAPTABLE OFFICES

Accommodate the workplace known and unknowns with strategic design tactics that stretch your real estate’s value.

In a day and age where access to a phone or computer can transform any space into an office, the relationship workers have with brick and mortar offices has everything to do with flexibility. Companies are seeking out ways of making their offices destination workplaces that foster collaboration and are able to weather organizational changes.

Surveys conducted for JLL’s The Future of Work Survey 2022 found that 53% of organizations will make remote work a permanent option for all employees by 2025, and only 9% of employers don’t offer some kind of hybrid option. With the far-reaching presence of hybrid work across fields and sectors, businesses are looking for ways to better integrate different kinds of work in their company culture and physical space.

In addition to catering to different types of work, providing flexible features in an office setting prepares an organization for economic or staffing changes. That same report by JLL states, “73% of businesses surveyed have planned or are planning to make all office spaces open and collaborative, with no dedicated desk spaces.”

1 smbw

Corporate Space

Creating spaces that adapt can also accomodate changing company practices around inclusivity. Flexible furniture and office design strategies can benefit disabled employees, clients, and visitors just as much as hybrid employees. Let’s explore the ways design can continue to adapt.

The Changing Office The future of work is human-centric, and the modern office is one that spotlights autonomy, adaptability, and choice. As such, companies are looking to spaces that can easily shift with growth, hires, recessions, social distancing policies, changing technologies, and evolving work patterns. Though no one can accurately predict what the coming years might bring, it’s essential that organizations future-proof their spaces by assessing the health and challenges an organization is facing, tracking industry and economic predictions, and being conscious of the potential impact of upcoming events.

Future-proofing manifests in a physical space through low density/high SF, fluid spaces that can be easily adjusted over time, a variety of dynamic working spaces, and flexible furniture.

Corporate REVERB Adaptable Offices

2

Density

Offices are trending towards low-density offices with large, open spaces that offer different ways of working and can satisfy a variety of uses.

Privacy

Access to private wellness spaces or phone rooms can make a huge difference in employee satisfaction and productivity.

Adjustable Furniture

Modular furniture, high back sofas, meeting pods, movable breakout furniture, phone booths, and sit-to-stand desks offer comfort for dynamic work patterns and different body types Image Source: Dezeen / Kameleon Office Booth Askia Furniture

Less Fixed, More Fluid

Incorporate open spaces with movable boundaries and rely on few fixed features.

More In One

Assigning multiple uses to open spaces is a simple means of making the most of your space. An open area can serve as a cafe, coworking lounge, social gathering spot, or conference space.

Tech Integration

Outlets are easily accessible throughout common areas and cords, wires, and equipment are integrated into the design of furniture pieces.

Image Source: Nucraft Furniture Co.

Density Open, low density spaces with additional, assigned or unassigned workstations are replacing the traditional high walled cublices sprinkled with few collaborative or private spaces.

Hybrid work patterns that have people in the office 2-3 days a week have lead to less density (but not less space). The trend away from high density workspaces was jumpstarted by the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing guidelines, and now workers have come to prefer low density spaces. Offices are increasingly incorporating lounges, gyms, dining areas, and collaborative meeting areas where they previously opted for individual workstations and a single, dedicated conference room.

wants a moment to themselves, or simply needs a controlled space to present virtually, privacy is an important factor.

Open Space Designing open spaces that can easily change for both the short and long-term is an effective strategy to support the changing needs, size, and operations of an organization. Incorporating large areas with movable boundaries and fewer fixed features allow for a changing, flexible design that encourages different ways of working and allows for an ever-changing design.

Adaptable Furniture With the return to the office, unwavering presence of hybrid work, and increased emphasis on retaining talent, companies are looking for ways to make their offices worth the commute. The furniture and other physical design features in an office present many opportunities to craft a destination workspace.

The shift in dynamic work patterns has resulted in fewer cubicles and individual workstations, and a greater reliance upon open, collaborative spaces with shared amenities. Lounges, cafes, and collaboration hubs offer workers a choice in how and where they work. These areas also reflect how office design has taken notes from residential spaces so as to create a more comfortable environment.

“The office should be dynamic, an ever-evolving destination. What brands need today, may not be what they need tomorrow, so our goal is to create a foundation for constant iteration - to better address those future needs.”

Craig Anderchak, ASID, NCIDQ Regional Interior Design Director Steelcase is an organization at the forefront of workplace design and research, and they’ve applied flexible, future-proofing strategies to their own space. One such design solution is the inclusion of open spaces designed to satisfy a variety of uses. In Steelcase’s office, they utilize an open area that morphs throughout the workday, supporting hybrid meetings in the morning, acting as a café at lunch, and available to rent for evening events. These multi-use spaces are flexible on a short-term, day to day basis, and this foundation prepares the space for future changes.

Privacy A recent study by Kelton Global found that almost half of employees surveyed said that access to private space in their office had a direct impact on their frame of mind. Being able to step away from public spaces and work by oneself can be an invaluable amenity. Whether someone is dealing with physical discomfort or a disability,

With more meetings occuring remotely, having several small, enclosed environment rather than assigning private offices can make a huge difference in the success of a meeting, discussion, or presentation. Sound isolating phone booths and privacy pods offer a more economical approach while satisfying the need for a contained, acoustically sound, and sufficiently private space. Additionally, adjustable privacy panels located at individual workstations eliminate distractions for virtual meetings and make a more focused workspace.

Office furniture today is varied, modular, easy to move, and adjustable for different body types.

Modular, height-adjustable, and ergonomic tables, chairs, and workbenches are becoming the standard. Work lounges featuring high-back sofas create a space for employees to work productively and comfortably. Furniture is also more sensitive to technology, integrating wires and equipment into the design of the desk or chair, and ensuring outlets are accessible throughout a space.

Design For The Unknown The economic, staffing, and operational changes companies are facing calls for a more dynamic, future-proofed, destination workspace. Adaptable offices and design features that account for future knowns and unknowns set organizations up for success now and in the years to come.

Corporate REVERB Adaptable Offices

4