The new work-life balance: homey office furniture
Companies ditch desks and cubicles for comfy couches and big beanbag chairs
Office design is changing, reflecting a desire for more social work environments, a movement toward flexible work hours and work spaces and a blending of home and office design.
“One thing that I’m going to say is pretty true about the younger generation is the need for connection and face-to-face contact,” says Sara Remocker of the Vancouver design firm Dialog. “If everyone works from home, you’re losing that connection, so it’s really important to design a workplace that still draws people in, where they want to come.”
Remocker says an example of this done well is the 4,000-squarefoot double-height space Dialog designed for Vancouver research and analytics company Stat in Railtown, where CEO Rob Bucci wanted a “non-corporate” feel.
The resulting space includes custom lighting and a colour palette of white, grey and plywood broken up with custom graphics and art. There are break-out rooms, private meeting spaces and communal work areas, along with a 1,500-square-foot mezzanine level that has an event space.
“We encourage our staff to book this space for events outside of the office,” Bucci said, “like their kids’ B-day parties. We have given new meaning to the word multi-functional design.”
Ninety nine per cent of the companies that approach Wayfair Business Interiors, Wayfair’s arm that designs office spaces for clients, are requesting open- concept designs, says Rebecca MacDonald, their in-house designer.
Flexibility is key, MacDonald says, with businesses anticipating they will add staff as time goes on and opting for furniture and layouts that allow for growth.
She says furniture is now smaller and more mobile, so work stations can be set up, reconfigured and added onto with ease. Instead of setting up stationary cubicles for individuals, which traditionally cost between $2,000 and $6,000, some business owners are now opting for work pods for their employees, she says.
“We do a lot of adjustable-height desk applications,” she says. “Four to eight people can sit or stand at them, they usually get a mobile pedestal with a cushion, so that’s their filing cabinet, and it’s a much smaller profile — it’s usually about 15 inches wide by 18 inches deep, so it’ll fit right under the desk, saving space, and obviously they’ll get a desk chair on casters.”
Collaborative or “huddle spaces” are also popular with companies, MacDonald says. Media tables that are “half rounds” and allow for media such as TVs to be hooked up easily are often “floated” into conference rooms and open-plan offices, so they can be used for quick team meetings, then pushed out of the way to allow for events and parties, she says. They’ll be accompanied by chairs on casters that nest together, and can stack away easily.
More and more companies are moving toward flexible hours and flexible work spaces in which individuals do not have their own desk, MacDonald says.
“So the employee would get a laptop, and whenever they would come in, they would find a desk they can work (at), and that really lends to collaboration,” she says. “Say you’re working on a project with someone in another department. You can come in at the same time and find desks next to each other.”
In these environments, privacy is still valued, MacDonald says. Her team has noticed a demand for “privacy chairs,” which she says are basically loungers with “built-in walls.” That might mean the arms are just a bit higher, creating a shield, she says, and some of them have arms big enough to accommodate a laptop.
MacDonald says another trend she’s seeing in office design is a crossover with home design, referring to it as “resi-mercial.”
“It’s a blending of commercial and residential furniture in a space,” she says. “Obviously the desk and the chairs and any equipment is commercial grade, but when it comes to those flexible spaces, we’ll get asked for loungers. They want that cool West Elm feel, so we’ll be doing more like midcentury loungers mixed in. They’ll asked for a Google feel, so it’ll be a little more modern furniture, but it definitely lends to a more homey environment.
“When you walk in there’s some colour, it’s not just white on white, which is what I think was happening five to 10 years ago when people wanted that Silicon Valley look, but now people are asking for more colour, bringing in those homey elements into those huddle or flex spaces.”
We have given new meaning to the word multi-functional design.