If an entrepreneur plans to organize a business in the service sector, he will definitely need office space. A businessman can work independently or hire employees. The office layout is carried out by the entrepreneur himself, or he can turn to professionals for help. There's a lot of room for creativity when you're doing it yourself, but it's easy to go over budget.
Visualization and layout of a small office
By agreeing to the help of designers, you will insure yourself against such troubles. These professionals know what the layout types are in the free building planner.
Criteria for choosing a layout
In connection with the rapidly developing areas of activity (creativity, financial and information security), the construction of offices is very relevant today. Modern companies can occupy from 1-2 offices to several floors.
The choice of office space layout depends on a number of mandatory criteria:
- The total area of the occupied territory.
- Initial layout of the premises.
- The work style of the company and employees. The length of the working day, the need for solitary work or frequent communication between employees (meetings and conferences) must be taken into account.
- The layout of offices deserves special attention for those companies that require interactive rooms for holding mass conferences.
The location of communication lines, bathrooms and other technical premises plays an important role. For IT companies, it is important to choose the type of layout with the best placement of distribution boxes and the allocation of a separate room for servers.
Materials
Paying attention to the materials from which the furniture is made, focus on its safety, ease of care and wear resistance
Below is a list of materials that are currently used to make a variety of school desks.
Chipboard is the best option for those parents who value quality at an excellent price. Thanks to its reliability, this furniture option will not only serve you faithfully for many years, but will also surprise you with its variety of colors and shapes.
Laminated chipboard - this material is cheaper than chipboard. However, you shouldn’t take a closer look at it for two very good reasons. Firstly, after some time it begins to release harmful toxic substances, which is unsafe for those sitting at such a table. Secondly, over time, such a table loses its presentable appearance. When purchasing, ask the seller for a safety certificate.
MDF - furniture made from this material is quite good. Firstly, it is cheaper than its wooden counterpart. Secondly, it has a huge number of positive properties: excellent quality, presentable appearance, durable, strong, safe and easy to clean.
Natural wood or solid wood - this option is better to purchase for high school students, since they are more careful than elementary school students. The material is reliable, durable and environmentally friendly. However, such a copy is quite expensive.
Plastic - a version of furniture made from this material is rarely on sale. But if you nevertheless find such a copy and decide to purchase it, then ask the seller for a quality certificate for the product. Make sure it is safe and the quality of the material is good.
Combined table category - in the manufacture of this type of children's tabletop, a metal frame and a tabletop made of a wooden component are used
In this case, special attention should be paid to how the metal parts are painted and the condition of the fittings and other parts.
Main functional areas of the office
Regardless of the type of activity, all small offices (occupying from 3 rooms to 1 floor) should have several standard functional areas. The layout of a modern office necessarily includes:
Hall for meeting visitors. For the convenience of clients and creating a favorable image of the company, it is most optimal to equip the hall with a sofa, a couple of armchairs, and a coffee table with current literature. In modern offices you can find plasma screens for clients to view specialized information while waiting.
A common corridor from where you can get to any point in the office space.
Offices or individual cubicles. Even when choosing an open-type layout, the workplace for each employee must be isolated (for example, using special partitions). Workplaces are arranged in accordance with the set of functions performed (desk or computer desk, shelves or racks for storing office supplies, folders, personal papers, documents).
Recreation area for employees. It is a common room equipped with counters and sofas. A refrigerator and microwave can be installed (dining area).
Technical rooms, including bathrooms, maybe a shower, rooms for storing cleaning equipment.
The rest of the workspaces are quite specific (server room for IT companies, recording studios for music and advertising companies), and their availability completely depends on the company’s area of activity.
Main types of layout
Today, the following types of office layouts are most relevant for choosing:
- Open type room.
- Cabinet office layout.
- Combined options.
Today, smart projects or open-plan offices (there are no strict rules) have become widely known. In such premises there are no requirements for office zoning, and work with clients is carried out at any point (sofas, relaxation areas).
The most famous example of a smart project is the offices of creative studios, art and advertising firms.
Features of Feng Shui arrangement
Those who are accustomed to focusing on Feng Shui culture can pay attention to the following tips:
- It is worth choosing fairly simple furniture with straight lines.
- It is better to place a man's office in the northwestern part, a woman's office in the southwestern part.
- You can add an aquarium with goldfish to your office. It is believed that this not only promotes relaxation, but also brings profit.
- It is recommended to place plants in the southeast.
- According to Feng Shui, the rules for placing workers' places are close to general ones. If possible, it is better for people to choose their own seats, focusing on their own feelings.
The correct arrangement of furniture in the office is important for the performance of each employee individually and the team as a whole. If there is enough space in the room, any layout will do. If there is little space, it is recommended to abandon the walls in favor of an open, single space.
Open type premises
With this type of layout, the main work area is concentrated in the central part of the building, floor, or occupied area. Each workplace is an individual cubicle with a set of functional tools and tools.
Zoning of booths is carried out using protective screens or decorative partitions that absorb noise and protect from extraneous irritants.
Most often, this type of layout can be found in various call centers and editorial offices of printed publications. The workplace can be larger in size, representing a full-fledged booth of 2*2 meters.
Such designs are used to work with clients, for example, in the credit departments of commercial banks, in insurance companies (customer service departments).
Ways to organize your workspace
As mentioned above, most of the office area is consumed by business space. From a planning point of view, it can be solved in different ways. The most common option is open-plan offices, also called open-space.
They traditionally compete with honeycomb-like buildings, where each department has its own office. In government agencies, this approach prevails.
Office type layout
With this approach to zoning rooms, you can get from the common corridor into several isolated rooms located on both sides of the common hall. The workplace is completely isolated, reliably protected from noise and external irritants.
Used for large companies involved in the preparation of individual projects (construction area, investments, legal companies). It is the most optimal option for office planning, but requires significant financial costs.
Room for team work.
It is equipped with everything you need for collaboration - from sit-stand desks and ergonomic chairs to lounge furniture. It is assumed that such premises are assigned to one group of employees who work on one project. A large monitor on the wall with a camera will allow remote colleagues to peer into the room and interact with colleagues as if they were physically there. Depending on the number of employees, the size of such a room can easily be varied.
The 4 active work zones are by far the “hottest” office spaces and are only part of the puzzle of 12 work zones from Clive Wilkinson Architects. In the next part we will look at transit areas such as corridors and reception.
Combined type of layout
This type of zoning (mixed office layout) of workspaces is used in large companies where there is a department for working with individual clients, as well as additional areas (recording studios, laboratories, sectors for assembling digital equipment, rooms for testing finished products, repair workshops) .
To work with visitors, booths are used, separated by decorative partitions, and the isolated room is placed in a separate block.
Office layout photo
Category: Layout ideas
