Offices are no longer the boring cubicles, multiple private offices and huge conference rooms. Today, offices are the environment where people work and learn. It’s important to make the employees feel good in that space. Hence, we decided to share some of the office furniture trends that can lead to better employee satisfaction rate as well as productivity.
1. What are dynamic office furniture options?
Multifunctional furniture is the trend of the day with the spaces available becoming extremely smaller in size.
2. Office design trends should have privacy, but not isolation – how does one achieve this!
It is important to have a thin line balance between open work design and cubicles. Both have their own positives & negatives. While an open design would give space for interaction but it affects the worker’s focus as well. With space becoming expensive, the trend is moving towards reduced individual spaces.
Many organizations have re-planned their offices with cut back on private offices and replacing them with more collaborative office spaces.
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3. New office furniture systems provide wire and cable management solutions that accommodate all data cabling. What kind of furniture suits these requirements to the fullest?
Modular furniture comes with possibility of snapping modular wiring systems. The modular wiring system saves labour as well as material. Modular wiring are easily re-locatable & scalable and facilitate relocation for multipurpose use of the same piece.
4. What are the new changes in modular office benching and furniture trends taking place nowadays?
The modular furniture is designed to make use of space in an automated ways and offer a new and fresh look to the office with in limited time. Apart from the particle board used traditionally, there is a recent development and new materials like glass snapped into aluminium, SS partitions, molded plastic are some new entrants.
5. Also, kindly list down a selection of 5 new popular melamine colours used in office space nowadays.
Parrot green and cyan are the colours of the season which have found their ways in the office to pep up the boring environment while the dark wood wenge, black white and silver are still amongst the favorites.
6. Kindly elaborate on the latest trend of office chairs.
Office chair plays a very important role in the success and growth of an organization. Since workers spend maximum time sitting on the chair so it is important that the chairs are ergonomically designed so that they are comfortable besides being stylish.
The metal framed body with gas lift is stereo typed to all office chairs but today mesh fabric has far more selling than the traditional velvette or leather.
Mesh is super breathable and keeps whoever is using the chair cool and fresh, allowing air to circulate easily. Mesh chairs are also usually lighter than their padded counterparts, making moving them around all the easier.
7. Why buying some extra ordinary cabinets in bright colors or in irregular shapes is not a good idea for office furniture?
While an irregular reception table can be welcoming and add an element of surprise to the entrance, I would strongly recommend taking regular shapes for the rest of the furniture. Placing irregular furniture at office would add your own identity and distinction to space but would not be a rational choice in terms of utilization of space.
Regular furniture gives more storage, more work area, more circulation and is easy to relocate. A pep of colour is always welcomed but too many bright colours would become obsolete with time & would become a great obstruction to focus.
8. Why glass tables and cabinets are a big no-no for office furniture?
Who has got the time to keep the glass cabinet neat & tidy all the time? Every body’s responsibly is nobody’s responsibly holds true when it comes to office furniture. Glass definitely needs an extra case and is not accident free and can cause injury to people at distance as well.
9. Ideal size of individual workspace station should be? (also what all should be kept in mind when buying individual workplace stations – mention things like blunt edges, more storage space and so on)
Ideal size work space should be 4’ x 2’. Computer desk should have ample space after placing the monitor or LCD and the distance & height of monitor from the user, placement of keyboard & mouse need to be designed to suit the comfort. Sturdiness is a must and while adjustable height is an added advantage. Accessories like filing cabinets, wall hanging to keep pen holders, built in letter trays, visiting card holders, desk organizers, built in lights are a few add-ons to it.
10. The ergonomic furniture revolution is still in full swing – your views on the same.
Ergonomics change from person to person & most of the companies work on the standard height of a human beings. It is important to source adjustable height to suit various people. The height though primarily important should allow a person to sit with knees at 90 degree and the back at 90 degree.
The chair should have adjustable arm rests, back and head rest so that one can adjust according to one’s comfort. Since we spend a lot of time sitting at our desk every day, it can wreak havoc to our bodies and cause repetitive strain injuries. It is important to study what ergonomically manufactured desk & chair really mean rather than just going by the blind ads.
12. How can meeting rooms be designed to encourage discussion and free-flow of ideas?
Meeting areas have different utilities. Small informal meeting areas are important for creative ideas to flow and allowing casual conversation. This allows elaborating, communicating and tossing ideas and formulating plan of action in high energy and excitement. With traditional meeting in large conference, with long tables, is generally found to be low energy and less efficient. Good lighting and ventilation is a must to any work area.
The innovatively designed meeting area is like a cherry on the cake. Small meeting areas which can allow reconfiguration to become one big are amongst the best designs. Facilities like audio visual screens, enough electrical points for laptops and accessories, comfortable temperature are a few requisites. The glare of sunlight directly on the screen should be avoided.
We hope you find this Q&A style post on office furniture trends useful. If you do, please subscribe to our newsletter for more design tips & updates. In case, you’re looking for professional help, get in touch with us at +91-9810630334. We’re office interior designers based in Delhi NCR & can help you with your requirements of a functional, and classy workspace.
