Office Snapshots - i know where you work

Bates Smart of Australia lead the design of the new Conneq office space. A little from their description:

Conneq’s new offices were designed around a new triple height void and dramatic stair. A shift towards open planning, glass partitions and a generous amount of shared social space and meeting rooms reflect the client’s aspirations for unity, transparency and collaboration. The shift away from old hierarchies is further expressed by allocating the prime views to communal staff spaces rather than private offices.

This project is richer than a typical corporate environment, blending elements of hospitality, residential and corporate design. Hospitality styled furniture, sculptural features, bold lighting and refined detailing were achieved cost effectively and communicate confidence and sophistication to Conneq’s clients and staff.

Photography by Richard Glover

“In terms of design changes that have an effect on the greatest number of people, lighting is probably one of the most important. Why then, is lighting usually one of the only things that remains the same throughout the life of an office?

My guess is that most people just don’t think much about it, let alone know how to improve it.”

Read the rest plus photos of cool lighting designs

Anima Pictures is not the first company office to use pallets in their office design, but they certainly do so with a splash more color than the other, BrandBase. That said, the conference table is just about identical. All temporary, but fun for sure.

A little about Anima: “The concept of design, an open landscape autonomous, was applied in this way:
Firstly, the existing space was painted with white, to ensure a homogeneous background for the structure of pallets, accompanied by spots of color that characterize the company logo.

Pallets themselves create a structure which changes its character gradually being adopted in every office space. In the line of original material, to give the necessary privacy dedicated to the meeting area, the division created between two columns, reinforced through intervention with concrete blocks. The last part of the design of the structure contains supplements to the pallet as furniture lighting, furniture and accessories which stand under the black stain. The whole structure is aimed at facilitating more character than compelling.”

Those scientists are at it again, specifically ones from Fraunhofer (one of their offices here). And this time they’ve invented LED panels for the ceiling that simulate the look of the sky.

“The main focus in developing the virtual sky was to simulate natural lighting conditions on a cloudy day. To achieve this goal, the researchers carefully examined natural light to find out how – and how quickly – the light spectrum changes when clouds move across the sky. “The LEDs allow us to simulate these dynamic changes in lighting in a way that is not directly obvious to the naked eye. Otherwise the lighting might distract people from their work. But it does need to fluctuate enough to promote concentration and heighten alertness,” says Bues. The results of a preliminary study indicate that users find this dynamic lighting to be extremely pleasant.”

Unfortunately for these Muggle scientists, Hogwarts had one of these ages ago.

via Discovery

A recent study set out to see how generational differences affected preferences for workspace features and capabilities. I found it to be fairly enlightening.

Definitions:

+ Silent Generation: born between 1929 and 1945
+ Baby Boomers: born between 1946 and 1964
+ Generation X: born between 1965 and 1978
+ Generation Y: born between 1979 and 1997

Findings

The study found that all generations found workplaces to be important, but the workplace features each generation deemed important differ greatly.

Now What?

The study also identified some common themes that were apparent through the study with regard to future workplace design and the generational differences therein. Below are the cliff notes, and if you want to read them in their entirety, don’t forget to check out the research here.

Choice – “The office will serve as the setting for an array of social activities and collaborative work experiences, providing spaces that employees can choose from based on their immediate needs.”

Experience – “Baby Boomers value function, Gen-Y values connection. The workspace will evolve from its strictly functional role (providing support for individual and group work processes), to being part of a holistic system that creates a work experience—embracing the social and emotional components of work.”

Integrated Work - “The most effective spaces will support the seamless transition of people moving between individual and group work modes, both between locations and within their primary workspaces.”

Distributed Interaction – The plan of office facilities will be “landscaped”—still quite open but interspersed with some enclosed offices, lots of formal and informal meeting spaces, huddle rooms of varying sizes and formats, and small amenity spaces (pantries, coffee nooks, etc.) (Wymer, 2009; 2010). Any of these spaces can be used to support the short, informal meeting style of the typical employee of 2020.”