Office Interiors INTD405 Modern Practices in Interior Design Prepared by: Joshima V.M., University of Nizwa.

OFFICE Office buildings are made for the functioning of an organization. Organizations can be public, private, locally based or global; profitable or unprofitable; creative or routine; tiny or vast; well managed or chaotic; traditional or avant garde; growing, stable or declining etc. Different offices follow variety of work cultures.

WORKSTATION TYPES Traditional cubicles: these have private offices for the executives and managers and open areas for support staff. Open office: private offices are eliminated. All workstations are composed of free standing furniture. Limited use of movable privacy screens.

WORKSTATION TYPES Modular office: this is a combination between open office and private cubicles. Use panels to create cubicles and carry wiring. Freestanding or reconfigurable office: offers greater flexibility in workstation form. This is a reaction against the rigidity of cubicle planning developed in response to the fast moving pace of the new IT industries.

Special purpose spaces in office In addition to the layout of workstations, special purpose spaces are required. Conference, board and meeting rooms. Dining facilities Lounges and rest areas Mail and shipping rooms. File spaces.

VARIETY OF OFFICES Academic offices Offices for large retail organizations Offices for cultural establishments Offices for e-business and new technology companies Offices for Banks and other financial companies Offices of large accounting and Consulting firms Offices for major industries- manufacturing, energy & Transportation Offices for creative industries Government offices- federal, state and local Legal offices

Academic office Hierarchy is important and clearly marked. Control of space is essential. Open plans are not common. Mostly office cubicles are used. Computer and power connectivity is usually high. walls of shelves and filing cabinets to store books and papers are many. Clean desk policy never works. Furniture is functional; style is utilitarian; people are allowed to humanize and personalize their space and the budget is always modest.

Offices for large retail organizations Local retail offices tend to be hidden away behind the delivery bays. Head offices are more orderly with large reception areas. Generous offices for top managers. Small desks in open plan layouts for employees. Scattered among the office are storage spaces. Meeting rooms will be well equipped.

Offices for cultural establishments Museum, art galleries, libraries and theatres normally have three set of employees: Front office staff who interact with the public. Operational staff who look after contents and maintenance. Office based staff who works in the offices. Other than the front office, the other office spaces are hidden behind the main activities. Storage of book and papers in vast quantities is common.

E-business & New technology Companies are quite youthful and have very less hierarchy of spaces. The company image will be that of a functional, up-to-date, well organised operations. Training areas form part of many of their buildings. Work mobility is common in sales departments hence office will act as topping points or meeting points. Buildings include many relaxed places for solor work and team works, some play spaces and cafeterias or pantries.

Banks, financial organizations Depend a lot on computers and hence a lot of office space for IT departments. Headquarter offices show off solidity, wealth and history with enough art works and elegant meeting rooms. Reliance on papers has reduced hence lesser space for filing. Remote work culture is being introduced; working away from the office.

Accounting & consulting firms Adopt efficient space management techniques. Implements desk sharing for young employees. Meeting rooms usually elegantly decorated to impress clients. Big bold letterings and neon signs atop their buildings. The clear hierarchy that was once followed is now breaking down.

Manufacturing, Energy & transportation Offices form a smaller part of such industries. The head quarters must look wealthy. New technology spaces become essential part. Need to have flexible design to incorporate merging and acquisitions. Require spaces for displaying artifacts and an archive of corporate history.

Creative industries The overall image of the organization will be youthful and casual eventhough they have routine departments like finance and It and creative departments. Require spaces for team works in different setups like conference rooms, project rooms, coffee bars and chill out areas. Need to project the corporate image and various displays like books, TV, music or posters. Hierarchy tends to be less important. Materials, colors an texture will be explorative.

Government offices Normally housed in big office buildings. Meeting areas become an important part. Modest furnishings and fittings are used. Space allocation is according to the clear set of rules. Large amount of paper filing will be required hence more storage areas.

Legal offices There will be many small offices either in open plan or small groups. Meeting rooms with decorations maintaining a balance between traditional and modern styles. Paper filing and books storage become an important part.

Office space planning guidelines Convenience to the public: Departments having frequent visitors should be located in such a way that the visitors have a short, direct and convenient route from the main entrance. Eg. Sales, admin offices, purchasing department etc. This will offer privacy and least disturbance to the other office workers. Flow of work: Departments having close working connections must be located near to each other. Eg. Structure department and MEP department in a consultancy. If they are far apart, walking time will increase and the use of intercom or telephone increases.

Office space planning guidelines 3. Equipment used: Some departmental operations require the use of special equipment requiring extensive wiring, plumbing, or ventilation equipment . Two such departments should not be located together because of the difficulty of later expansion . Some sections of a department may use noisy equipment . To minimize disturbance to the rest of the employees, these sections are commonly segregated into sound-treated rooms

Office space planning guidelines 4. Centralized functions: Functions that serve the entire office should be centrally located and easily accessible to all users. Library, archive etc. Functions like restrooms, supply cabinets etc should be provided in sufficient numbers and conveniently located. 5. Confidential areas: Rooms that require great privacy should be located away from the general public and daily traffic routes in the office. Conference rooms: Conference rooms should be placed near the departments that uses it the most. In an air conditioned office, it can be in the interior of the building to have less distractions from the windows and to have more display wall.

Office space planning guidelines 7. Freight elevators: Departments receiving and delivering large quantities of materials should be located near the freight area for ease of handling, less time and labor, and less distraction of other workers . Eg.Mail, stockroom, and machine departments. 8. Shipping docks: Shipping and receiving activities and mail rooms should be near the point of entrance and exit of material . 9. Service facilities: Eating, medical, and lounge facilities are generally on the lower floors to reduce elevator traffic .

Office space planning guidelines 10. Passenger Elevators: When an office occupies more than one floor, elevator service will be more effective when the departments with large clerical forces are on the lower floors .