Exploring the subtle elements of office design

Playing up the light; dialing down on the sound.

How employees feel when they walk into their office, sets the tone for productivity. An office that’s well-illuminated by natural light, helps office workers begin the day on a positive note.

So when designing office spaces, the guiding principle ought to be employee wellness. And of course, what the ‘perfect office space’ is, can vary from one project to the other.

Drawing daylight deeper into the office:

The days of the coveted corner office are numbered. That trophy belonged to an era when only the office at the outer edge of a building had access to daylight. And because of wooden partitions, cabins adjacent to those outwards-facing offices, remained cut off from daylight, with their lights on all day. The fall-out of this was a much higher electricity bill!

Thankfully, designers can now plan on more ‘democratic’ office spaces! As strong interior glass partitions entered the market, those wooden partitions are getting replaced by 99.8% glazed partitions that let daylight travel through multiple adjacent cabins -- well past the corner office and?into areas 2 or 3 cabins away from the building’s edge.

So the best offices are designed to exploit natural light to the maximum – a coffee break taken in a window-less basement cafeteria will refresh a tired mind far, far less than a cuppa enjoyed?while watching the late evening light change not just the colors of the sky but also the interiors of your office.

How glass partitions support interior designers’ dreams

Typically, even while using glass partitions, designers lamented the loss of light as one moved deeper into an office space. But current acoustic glass partitions, particularly manufactured for the international markets, come in heights of up to 9 meters, are 99.98% glazed and can be installed with profiles as slim as 9mm, allowing maximum light to permeate into all corners of an office space.

Designing calm workspaces even with high headcounts

Often, when facilities or operations managers brief designers, they vaguely mention the office head-count, the need for meeting rooms, possibly a conference room too and nothing else. But experienced designers understand that fitting in the right number of desks within a specified area is easy on paper. But being crammed like sardines into a can, can affect employees adversely. There’s enough research on how noise adds to stress, disrupts workflow and hence lowers productivity.

Now, acoustic glass partitions can be used judiciously across the office to cancel the noise. For instance, glass partitions circling a meeting room can be double-layered for improved sound-proofing and to ensure confidentiality.?Companies like Deko, even install double-layered glass doors to seal out the noise.

Glass partitions between senior management team members, on the other hand, can be single layered, to muffle conversations and prevent co-workers from being disturbed. Sections of the office can also remain open-plan, while the glass partitions are used selectively, to get the best bang for your buck.

Wellness apart, aesthetics also counts

An office that looks and feels good has a subliminal message to employees – that the company believes in investing in their workplace.?So glass partitions installed by trained personnel, using products certified according to global standards of sustainability, will not just last long, but retain their premium finish over an extended period.?An elegantly designed office also gives employees a sense of pride in where they work.