You have a lot of pieces to consider when designing a coworking space. How do you create the environment you’re trying to achieve? Here are some tips we’ve found most useful.
1. Adding Seating Diversity
A great coworking space interior design uses carefully considered seating arrangements to improve productivity. Inviting seating options keep employees from feeling like they’re in a dreary spot just to finish up some work.
The best spaces cater to all types of visitors. Some customers work alone, while others work as a team. The typical types of spaces that seating arrangements should plan for include:
- Traditional Office Spaces: The most outdated type of space, these offer the worker a desk, a chair, and the basic necessities for cubicle work. People who get distracted easily or work with extremely sensitive information value this kind of arrangement, so, while it’s not common in coworking spaces, it’s good to offer at least a few traditional working spaces.
- Open-air Arrangements: Setups where users can mingle are core to coworking spaces that value networking. These open-air arrangements allow interaction with others, encouraging collaborative work, and they also double as event spaces. This is great when your customer base includes both individuals and teams.
- Individual Workspaces: These aren’t just cubicle spaces. Instead, individual workstations provide private spaces for digital nomads while letting them socialize if they want. This means the best options for individuals are often bar-style seating, corners with dedicated desks, and spots against walls. These arrangements should let the customer make their space more or less private to suit their tastes, and should provide all facilities within arm’s reach so the worker can completely zone into their work without being distracted.
2. Decorating With Plants
The biophilic office design is a new trend that brings natural flora, like plants and living walls, into working spaces. People enjoy seeing some greenery around them, and seeing live plants in their working space helps to raise their spirits as they work. This design style doesn’t just enhance aesthetics but even naturally helps to improve air quality so you can provide a healthier work environment.
The distinct, unique appearance and color scheme of the space can also become a memorable and beloved place for people to work, especially if you complement the plants with murals, custom-designed furniture, and artistic installations.
3. Creating a Common Meeting Area or Collaborative Zones
Coworking spaces are defined by the sense of community they create. This makes it vital to create floor space specifically to enable social interaction, like communal kitchens, coffee bars, and lounges.
To help foster networking and collaboration, you can organize events, workshops, and gatherings for inter-member bonding and coherence. These help people make connections at your coworking space, encouraging them to make it a part of their regular routine.
4. Enhancing Acoustic Comfort
Conventional office environments take special measures to control background noise. For example, they often soundproof with partitioned booths, acoustically insulated walls, and noise-isolating materials. However, since shared office spaces typically use an open office structure, sound insulation is more difficult.
There is a variety of noise sources in coworking spaces, like:
- Phone calls
- Conversations
- Keyboards
- Background noise like music or coffee machines
To prevent all this noise from disrupting people’s work, here are some things you might find useful:
- D.I.Y. Acoustic Panels: Acoustic panels, fabrics, carpets, and sound-absorbing furniture can reduce noise levels. Requiring phone calls and meetings to take place behind partition walls or in soundproof rooms also cuts noise.
- Behavioral Guidelines for Office Noise: Ensure every member knows you have clear guidelines that include rules for informal meetings, phone calls, and the use of common areas. You will need to consistently communicate and enforce these rules.
- Quiet Zones: Set up rooms called quiet zones, which are away from the hub of noise and adhere to strict silence. These zones help provide more flexible office space for individuals and enable concentrated work.
5. Including Ergonomically Designed Arrangements
Since users may spend long hours at work in your coworking space, ergonomic furniture is essential. Invest in high-quality adjustable chairs and desks so you can accommodate for different working styles and body types. Plush sofas and lounge chairs in common spaces can also help people relax when they need a break.
6. Understanding the Importance of Natural Light
Good offices for productivity need to be comfortable spaces beyond just the furniture. That’s why it’s crucial to have proper lighting, good ventilation, and temperature control. Natural lighting and open views can even enhance mood and energy, giving people a place to stare out when they need a break. Large windows and skylights let in a lot of natural light, creating a lively, warm, audience-friendly atmosphere. You should also make sure no workspace is too far from a window.
7. Adding Individual Workspaces
Individual workspaces have different needs than the more typical team-oriented spaces. You need quiet zones, ergonomic chairs, and essential amenities like fast WiFi and printing facilities.
Since individuals will want to stretch and socialize, inviting breakout areas with coffee and refreshments are a must.
8. Designing Tech Smart Coworking Spaces
It’s good to enhance your coworking space with technology that empowers members. For example, here are some options to consider:
- Desk and Meeting Room Booking Solutions: User-friendly booking platforms that let members reserve desks and meeting rooms in real-time often also sync with calendars and send automated reminders for optimal space usage.
- IoT-Powered Climate and Lighting Control: Using the Internet of Things (IoT) to give members control of temperature, humidity, and lighting regulation helps create a comfortable working environment. Automated climate control options also save energy.
- AI-Powered Office Space Analytics: Data-driven workspace management technologies render real-time analytics of occupancy trends, visitor traffic, and desk usage, so you can understand what members want and expand accordingly.
9. Exploring Outdoor Space Rules and Trends
In America, outdoor coworking spaces are gaining traction as people seek more engaging, productive work environments that are teeming with life. Here are some of the key trends in outdoor spaces:
- Biophilic Design: Bringing natural elements like plants, natural lighting, and views of nature enhance productivity and well-being.
- Sustainability and Green Initiatives: People are increasingly focusing on eco-friendly practices, like upcycled furniture, energy-efficient lighting, and waste reduction strategies.
- Suburban Designs: Suburban coworking spaces take inspiration from their local surroundings, blending the charm of the suburban lifestyle with modern amenities. They offer outdoor work areas, wellness programs, and networking events. This adaptability shows that the coworking space understands the preferences of people who live and work outside the city.
There are some rules you will need to follow in accordance with your building or state’s laws when you provide outdoor spaces. For example:
- Noise levels for phone calls, conversations, and music to avoid disturbing neighbors
- Clear distinctions of smoking and non-smoking zones
- Establishment of emergency procedures and evacuation routes
- Security measures like cameras and access control
Discover Expertly Designed Coworking Spaces Near You
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Coworking Space Design FAQs
What Makes the Best Coworking Space?
The best coworking space is customizable to cater to your specific needs. It offers a variety of types of spaces, some encouraging private work and others encouraging networking, all with designs that consider your mental and physical health.
What Is an Ideal Office Layout?
In coworking spaces, the ideal office layout is adaptable to the needs of the team or individuals using it, with moveable furniture and partitions to help them make the space their own.
How Big Should a Coworking Space Be?
The size you need for a coworking space varies, but you can generally estimate it would take around 5,000 to 20,000 square feet, accommodating for a mix of open desks, meeting rooms, private offices, and communal areas. Smaller coworking space designs could be closer to 2,000 to 3,000 square feet.