Guide to design of an Office

Design of an Office

Office design mainly depends on the function of the office and working schedule and regular timings of the office. The purpose of its design should be studied carefully for a successful office design. The number of people and the kind of people that are going to be working in the office have to be taken into consideration so as to provide a comfortable working space.

The process of Office Design can be split up into four parts:

1. Understanding design Considerations2. Important Design Factors 3. Importance of Interior Design 4. Office Systems

Office building in California

Purpose of an Office

The purpose of an office is to derive maximum work from employees and maximum business from clients. To achieve this, minimum disturbance to employees and minimum inconvenience to clients should be the motto of the designer.

Pattern of Population of an Office Building

The population of an office jumps from zero to maximum within a morning hour. And it declines likewise in the evening, only maintenance staff remaining there. So the entrance

should be large enough to cope with this and at the same time should not intimidate the visitors.

These are the two basic consideration before we start with designing an office, be it an Architect’s Office or a Management Office.

In this article, we are going to discuss in detail the various requirements that are to be incorporated in any office design.

General requirements of an Office

Office is a space where people are active the entire day. Keeping this in mind, we have to consider all the necessary factors that are essential for the design of a comfortable office space. Like for any other planning, adequate light, proper air circulation, controlled sound level, right work surface and storage for stationary, equipment and other sundry articles should be considered.

Open plan office

Specific requirements

Reception Area

It is a must because every visitor needs a pause before meeting the desired person.

List of Staff

Categorised list of staff is required to decide the division of space. Further expansion should be kept in mind. The list should be category wise. The people working in an establishment, known collectively as the staff or personnel, are normally divided into four categories:

1. Executive2. Office Assistants3. Helpers4. Menials

Executives

Higher and lower differs who have to be allotted a separate cabin.

Office Assistants

Clerks, stenographers, typists, receptionists, telephone operators, etc – the middle level staff. All these require proper work space.

Helpers

Peons, office boys, delivery boys, watchmen, etc. They require only sitting space.

Menials

Staff employed for the upkeep of the office. Usually, they enter office after office hours and remain out of office, though they need a corner or cubicle to store their wares such as broom, vacuum, cleaner, brushes, mops, ladder, etc.

Work space

Find out are and type of space, the type of work surface storage for stationary, equipment and other personal articles like bag, tiffin, etc, sitting arrangement for visitors and the treatment of the workspace or cabin.

Typical office cabin

Storage and space for materials

What is not personnel, is materiele, ie, material. Office machines for collective use, like copiers, cyclostling machine, computer require proper space. So also stationery and other sundry items like heater, kettle, crockery etc. All these should be written down properly.

Work Relationship

Note down the members of personnel and relationship among them. This will facilitate in grouping of personnel and planning of functional interior.

Nature of Business

Certain business require simplicity, like chattered accountant’s office; certain require glamour, like an advertising agency’s office. Some offices require privacy like a modelling agency’s office and some require security like a financial institutions.

The right type of ambience should be created in the interior and the right type of business image should be enhanced.

Staff room

To avoid messing in the office, attached kitchen with the staff room is recommended. Kitchenette makes the staff really happy creating a semblance of home in the office while providing warm food.

Toilet

Necessary for good image and hygiene. Automatic tap water with automatic drier should be installed with neat and clean well-designed toilet.

Conference Room

If space allows, provide a small conference room near the reception area where visitors and personnel can meet. This avoids disturbance in the office, the reception area does not get crowded, office security is intact and visitors save their time.

Design of an Office

In my earlier articles concerning Office Design, we discussed various requirements that are essential to be incorporated in an Office Design. There are few other factors that are necessary when it comes to designing an office. The design of an office also depends on the specific type of office. Its a short article but will help you understand the basics of office design.

Design of an Office

In an office, where writing is of prime concern, one hand should be usually free and unentangled for the purpose which is usually the right hand with which we perform most of our daily activities. So it is advisable that we keep the instruments like telephone, intercom, etc on the other side to make simultaneous use of the hand and the instrument.

Some employers want to impress the visitors to their office and want them to pass through it before they meet the desired person. Some do not want the visitors to go beyond reception and conference room. This depends on the owner of the office. Everyone has a different perception towards their workspace. So discussion with the people for whom you are designing is to be given prime consideration.

Fire Alarm systems, water sprinklers systems should be necessarily installed in an office because an office contains great amount of paper and other inflammable materials that could pose a problem if a fire breaks out in an office.

Ambience of an Office

The ambience of an office should be spacious, bright, airy and cosy. It should be conducive to efficient work and amiable temperament. It should be satisfying to the employer,

employees and visitors. It should reduce the tiredness, tension and indifference of the visitors. It should induce an urge to work, select, think, discuss and be creative in whatever work they are assigned.

A fine interior also attracts better employees and that chances are they will work harder. The visitors are also impressed by it and like to deal on a long term basis with the organizations having pleasant interiors and comfortable working space.

In our forthcoming articles, we will also discuss the types of office plans (open plan office and grid iron pattern plan). Since we all know that interiors are the core of any design and influence entire working enthusiasm of the people; we will also discuss the design of fine interiors specifically needed for an Office.

Importance of the Design of Office Interiors

Importance of design of Office Interiors

Interior Design is an art of influencing people’s lifestyle. This is a general statement that everyone of us is aware of. But when it comes to the Design of Interiors of an Office; the interiors play a major role in influencing their lifestyle and the employer’s work efficiency. Earlier in an article, “Exterior Design Vs Interior Design“; we discussed how each of their design is important in a way that influences a person’s lifestyle and how their correlation makes a difference.

Office Interiors

Design of an Office can be split in four parts:

1. Design requirements in an Office 2. Understanding the design Factors 3. Office Systems 4. Interior Design of an Office

Before an interior designer commences work on an office project, he should try to understand the client, his taste, requirements, system of management, size and nature of staff, budget and

other considerations. Then only the designer will be able to comprehend the dynamics of the particular office design.

Offices have two specific area of design: One is general, shared by all the offices, like reception, work, filing, toilet areas, etc; other is particular, the individual requirements, like computer suite, plant room, cafeteria, etc. The designer should absorb the requirements of the client, principles of good office design, his own perception of an ideal office and then think of solutions. If he does not find some requirements of the client compatible with the perimeters of specific solutions he is arrived at, he should try to do away with such requirements with mutual discussion with the client.

Here in this specific example, the original entrance was situated at one end and the entry to all the areas/rooms were through central corridor thus disturbing the quite of office all along the length. On the designer’s suggestion, the entrance was shifted to the middle of the building giving direct access from the central corridor only to a few rooms/areas resulting in some saving of space, end of disturbance, reduction in movement, and quicker mobility.

The movement of visitors/staff is restricted and ensuing nuisance curtailed by situating many conference rooms near the entrance. But if a client has the noble intention of exhibiting his office to visitors, the above line of thinking would have to be thoroughly reversed. This will make you realise that there are no fixed rules in the field of interior design.

Planning Systems of an Office | Open plan Office and Closed Cabin System

Planning of an Office

In my earlier articles, we discussed how to incorporate various requirements that are essential in any office after which we discussed some important design factors to be considered in an Office Design. So lets group them as design considerations.

Open plan Office

Apart from design considerations, the planning system is also of great importance which facilitates the easy and smooth functioning of an office. For successful office planning, grouping and interconnection will facilitate easy movement, save time in traffic and locating a thing and help reduce the excess staff.

Architects and Designers have established two major types of Office Systems over a period of time. The main bulk of planning for any office is the arrangement of work space for the medium level personnel.

Two major Office Systems

1. Open Office System2. Closed Cabin System

In the former system, work space is arranged in open space while in the latter cabins, partly or fully closed, are employed.

Plan of Office Systems

The furniture and other arrangement of office system is based on two types of layouts:

1. Gridiron, and2. Random

The random layout depends on the designer’s whim, but gridiron based layout is worked out on a frame.

Gridiron Plan Office System

The grid plan allows for two types of systems:

Open System and Closed System. In the open system, work spaces are arranged in a big hall while in the closed system, work spaces are arranged in cabins. The cabins can be either fully closed or partially closed, though partially closed is preferred by most as it combines the advantages of open system and fully closed cabin system.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Office System

This system allows openness, gives spaciousness, saves space and expenditure, is easy to render as mass-produced furniture can be used.

It connects all the arrangement visually and demarcates territorial right. The openness freedom promotes camaraderie and team work. It also discourages underhand dealings and other unwanted affairs. Absence of privacy, traffic nuisance and extra expenditure on acoustic control are the disadvantages.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Closed Cabin System

This system affords privacy which for some persons is essential for efficient and smart work. It also give status to the employees because in most offices cabins are meant for executives only. It gives incentive to individually minded employees as they are not under the physical supervision of ant one.

It is more expensive as it requires bigger space, extra expense on cabins, made to order furniture, cost of installation of ventilation, electric, acoustic systems with better workmanship. The privacy gained might lead to underhand dealings and unwanted affairs.