Designing Your Workspace for a Boost of Energy and Efficiency
Designing your workplace, be it an office building or just your home office, plays a part on future productivity. The choice of shapes and colors, the quality of light and air can change or accentuate the state of mind we have when we walk into the office and can help or keep us from achieving maximum efficiency. Here are some useful recommendations for designing your workplace, from the architects at doipunctunu.ro.
Colors
The colors in an office or any workspace can have a major impact, influencing state of mind, spirit and productivity. Bright colors used as accents in combination with neutrals work best to convey a fresh, positive feeling. Pastels on the other hand are rather calming and soothing being more appropriate for home spaces. An accent wall in a bright color or filled with photos or prints is a great design asset in an office.
Designing your workspace. Light
The lighting plays maybe the most important part in setting the mood of a given space. When it comes to offices, the best lighting is natural one, but it’s not always there in sufficient amount, so you have to compensate with a certain type of artificial lighting, consisting of ambiental and focus lights. The best in an office is white light, a fine replacement for natural light, while fluorescent or yellow light should be avoided.
Air
Air quality and temperature don’t only influence productivity, but also the health of employees. That’s why it’s very important to have natural or artificial ventilation inside an office. Also air temperature should be between 22 and 25 degrees Celsius (71 – 77 degrees Fahrenheit).
Designing your workspace. Plants
Decorating an office space with plants increases productivity by 15% according to research, because plants have the quality of reducing stress. Plants help purify the air and regulate humidity, which should be between 30 and 60%. Air that is too dry causes that suffocating feeling indoors. Plants can be used to make green walls which reduce noise and dramatically change the look of the room.
Furniture
In order to feel as comfortable as possible at the office, we have to choose adequate furniture, from our chair to the pieces which make up the relaxation area, like comfortable armchairs, bean bags, hammocks and so on.
Designing your workspace. Division
A good division of your workspace can transform the smallest office into a nice place to work in. You can have different areas for working, relaxing, meetings or presentations, just by placing the furniture in a certain way and using elements like mobile walls, bookshelves etc. An ergonomic workplace increases concentration and creativity.
Photo credits: i-mad.com, retaildesignblog.net, tinj.co
