Dynamic Design – One For All

Have you ever had the experience of being off work for say a couple of weeks, on holiday for example? Upon your return you find out that 5 people have left, you have a new boss, your entire department has moved on to a new floor and you no longer have your cherished window seat… No? Just me then. With a dynamic office space, you could find an unoccupied window and move your desk over there yourself. You can have the feeling of a new office without having to climb an extra flight of stairs and those five colleagues might never have left as dynamic design aims to increase employee engagement and reduce turn-over by continuously changing and adapting.

In this third edition of ‘Watch This Space,’ we move freely around the topic of dynamic design and what it means for the workplace going forward.

Why Dynamic?

To be dynamic is to be characterised by constant change, activity or progress. Or when used to describe a person, to be energetic and full of new ideas. Dynamic design aims to encapsulate these definitions within a living, ever-changing space which caters to not one need or one person but many needs and many people.

The dynamic design or dynamic spaces movement has been one of the more popular design trends over the past couple of years and will continue to gain popularity through 2018 as it allows businesses to be flexible with their work environment and allows the space around them to grow in parallel to the company and continue to meet their needs as they progress.

What Makes an Office Design Dynamic?

Dynamic office spaces are characterised by several design choices from the space itself to furniture and dividers:

Openness

Offices are moving further and further away from the idea of cubicles and the ‘segmented office’ this came with the welcoming of open-plan design and has now developed further into a need for greater amounts of light, glass partitioning (see our blog on smart glass here) and ease of movement throughout the office which in turn creates easier access to people. It is thought that these wider spaces help to reduce employee isolation and contribute towards the creation of stronger teams.

Movable Furniture

Lightweight and movable furniture allows for endlessly customisable layouts. Desks can be situated on their own in either seated or standing positions for private work time or easily pushed together to create a makeshift meeting space which when combined with mobile dividers add the privacy that is sometimes required with little effort. The space can be transformed for the office Christmas party or other special events or laid out in a more traditional conference room or meeting area design to accommodate important visitors.

Breakout Areas

Dividers are a great way to conjure up an impromptu breakout area. A sense of community is becoming a crucial part of running a successful office with collaboration between employees an important tool that businesses want to encourage.

Who Benefits?

A dynamically designed office showing off some of the features we have mentioned above would largely appeal to energetic, creative workers and whilst some would say that these new forward-thinking styles of design are catering to the ‘millennials’ there are benefits to be had by every age group. Dynamic design in the workplace promotes physical movement which is important especially in office jobs where sitting down at a desk for hours is still largely accepted as the standard. Having the ability to move around an open office and work in different areas throughout the day will help employees mental and physical wellbeing.

From the company’s perspective, a well-designed dynamic office allows for quicker expansion as it is just a case of adding more complimentary movable furniture rather than starting from scratch with the office layout and scratching your head over where you are going to fit everyone.

Dynamic design really does have a lot of benefits whilst turning a one trick Pony office into a multi-tasking, multi-purpose machine.

By Andrew Mairs – Marketing Executive

If you would like any further information on how Officeinsight can help make your space more dynamic, or to discuss your requirements, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on 0161 233 0030.