Everyone is talking about building a hybrid workspace after the pandemic and one thing you may notice is, team meetings have been moved from enclosed meeting rooms to open spaces, while individual workstations have been moved from open spaces to pods or small enclaves. Well-designed open collaboration spaces not only have the flexibility to respond to the changing work patterns, but they also put employee wellbeing at the centre of their design. Take a look at some of the collaborative workspace trends and why they’re worth considering.
- Create Home-Like Environment
Resimercial design incorporates aspects of home into the contemporary workspace and gives employees the comfort in a home-like environment. This could work particularly well when companies try to bring WFH employees back to the office. Use tactile textures, materials and accessories that evoke a sense of warmth, comfort and familiarity. Create living room or dining room alike spaces with furniture such as lounge chairs, ottomans, coffee tables and bar tables.
- Connect With Nature
Biophilic design brings nature elements such as landscape features, natural lighting and ventilation into the built environment. Research shows it can help to reduce stress, enhance creativity and improve well-being in the workplace. The most popular way to achieve this is to move the collaboration spaces close to windows and use plants such as a living plant wall or a vertical garden. For companies who have the luxury of to access private balconies, courtyards or rooftops, it is worthwhile to set up some teamwork spaces in the open air. Natural analogues are another way to approach biophilic design by using indirect methods to reflect nature, such as the use of naturally-inspired patterns and shapes with non-natural materials.
- Decorate To Reflect Company Culture
Colour therapy, also known as chronotherapy, has been used in office design to boost creativity and improve mental health. Artwork such as painting, sculpture and other forms of art installation can help to brighten up the office and create a specific vibe for employees. It is also a great opportunity to use colour and art to communicate company culture and branding.
- Balance “We” and “Me” space
A hybrid workspace is not all about collaboration, it is important to find the balance between “we” space and “me” space so your employees can still have a spot to work in solitude when needed. In fact, the more we collaborate, the more important it is to make room for “alone time” at work.