Designing for collaboration: the design trends leading the workspace revolution

The office landscape has changed rapidly in recent years, and the rise of remote work has prompted businesses to think creatively about inspiring employees to come into the office. Specifically, collaboration has proven an inherent driver, but how well are our workplaces designed to foster communication and idea generation in the hybrid work era?

We looked at current trends to understand how to encourage collaboration through design.

Options, options, options

Multifunctional design has always been paramount to workplace design. But more than ever, it is essential to ensure that offices are equipped for the unique requirements of hybrid employees. Traditional office layouts are often prescriptive in their zoning and purpose. Whilst suitable for a full-time in-person workforce, the rigid layout is often less easily adapted to remote employees seeking to get the most face time out of their office hours. Designing spaces that offer flexibility and enhanced options for how employees work together and interact in the limited time they are in the office enhances the scope for passive and active collaboration.

Facilitating a seamless experience

Given the extent of work done at home, integrating technology into the physical environment is no longer a novel ‘nice-to-have’ in the modern office but essential to collaboration. While getting out from behind the screen is half the beauty of in-person collaboration, smart tools and technologies that help bridge the gap between the two environments are integral design considerations. Designing spaces with a seamlessly integrated digital experience capable of mimicking the convenience and habits of being at home enhances the benefits, outcomes, and experience of collaborating in person.

A new way to lobby

As more businesses seek to improve employee satisfaction by adapting their workplaces, the expectation that offices more closely reflect a sophisticated downtown hotel than a board room is filtering through. In the shadow of co-working spaces, office hotelification has risen, promoting workplaces that emulate the aesthetic, amenities, and communal ambience of hotel lobbies to foster community and reimagine the culture within organisations. By drawing upon hospitality principles to create a more comfortable, contemporary, and often well-being-centric office environment, hotelification encourages a dynamic more conducive to collaboration.

What the future sounds like

As we transition to a more multifunctional, technologically enhanced, and relaxed office to better support collaboration, it’s crucial to understand how these spaces perform in action, especially concerning noise. Too often, collaboration and noise control are considered mutually exclusive. However, it is not only possible but essential to design for both. Reduced speech intelligibility can negatively impact collaboration, with research finding excess noise can result in decreased communication, reduced productivity, and lower job satisfaction.

Acoustic treatments help manage noise and create environments conducive to collaborative work. By crafting greater acoustic privacy within open-plan environments, acoustic installations are a powerful tool in modern space design, especially when collaboration is in mind. Treatments, such as Autex Acoustics’ wall, ceiling, and screen products and systems, can be strategically used to reduce noise reverberation and echo and delineate areas. Forming distinct areas with differing acoustic performances without physical barriers allows designers to maintain an open and collaborative atmosphere and provide a sense of privacy.

By reducing noise pollution and enhancing space functionality, these often subtle but noticeable additions improve communication, boost productivity, and increase job satisfaction.

Click here to explore our range of acoustic treatments and systems or contact us to learn more.