Avoid The Pitfalls Of An Open Design Office By Consulting A Commercial Interior Design Expert

10 May 2018
 Categories: , Blog

Share

Whether you're constructing a new office or renovating your existing one, it's a good idea to consider integrating an open design into your office. Open designs are rapidly becoming popular in commercial spaces – when you take down the barriers between employees, they can work together and communicate with each other easily. However, there are a number of potential problems that you may run in to with an open design which require planning to avoid, making it important to hire a commercial interior design professional to carefully create the layout for your new open office.

Open Spaces Are Loud Without Expert Soundproofing

If you think about how noisy a crowded restaurant can get, you'll realize one pitfall of an open design. Restaurants are a wide open space with few barriers between tables. As the interior of the restaurant becomes noisier, diners gradually speak louder so that their dining partners can hear them – this creates a feedback loop resulting in an incredibly noisy environment. An office with an open design can easily experience the same problem when your employees collaborate. With no barriers between employees, there's nothing to absorb or block sounds.

To eliminate noise and create a quiet environment where your employees can collaborate without disturbing others who aren't involved with their work, a commercial interior designer will install soundproofing panels at strategic locations around your office. Areas meant for collaboration will receive more soundproofing so that your employees don't have to worry about disturbing others who are working alone.

Employees Who Prefer to Work Alone Need Their Own Spaces

While an open design is great for communication and collaboration, it isn't a right fit for every employee. Some people simply prefer to work alone without being bothered – they want to concentrate on the task at hand and have difficulty refocusing on their work when they're interrupted. Hearing other employees talking, answering questions or seeing other employees walk through their space all represent distractions that frustrate employees who prefer to work in solitude. When these employees have difficulty concentrating on their tasks, this turns into a productivity loss for your business.

A commercial interior designer ensures that both employees who prefer to collaborate and employees who prefer to work alone are satisfied with the new office space. Zones are created that separate collaborative work and solo work – employees move from zone to zone as their preferences or daily tasks dictate. The zones for individual work are designed to have almost no distractions, allowing employees to focus on their job without being bothered.

A final consideration is the functionality of your office – commercial interior designers create beautiful spaces, but they primarily consider how useful the office space will be to your employees and how it can boost the productivity of your employees. Boosting your productivity and enhancing your employee workflow is the main goal of any office redesign. For your new open office, hire an interior designer from a company like Lrose Interior Design that specializes in commercial spaces and has the necessary expertise to avoid the potential pitfalls.