The tech industry is leading the way in office space design. It has oft been proven that innovation is greatly boosted and employee satisfaction heightened when comfortable, cool, design-led workspaces are offered to employees. Capital One’s survey shows how design truly matters to employees. Whilst great work environments foster a positive attitude, productivity and collaboration, workplace design has fast become an expected pillar when maximising innovation.
The study reveals that 63% of employees feel that whilst innovation is an expected deliverable, the design of the workplace is not conducive to the development of creative thought. Employees now expect design-driven workplaces as a minimum guarantee if they, as talent, are to be retained.
With the arrival of new and disruptive communication technologies, employees are no longer bound to chairs, desks or offices. The office is now a meeting point, an anchor for employees, an inviting and relaxing ‘café’ where ideas are generated and positive interaction occurs in a creative space. The technology industry is pioneering this concept of creative workplaces – and with a spread of innovative working environments we have picked a few that stand out:
Playster, Montreal, Canada. ACDF Architecture
Playster, a company that provides subscription-based entertainment services, offers clients and employees an environment that matches the dynamic vision. Whilst balancing white minimalist common spaces with brightly coloured areas, Playster provides ‘energy’ houses perfect for teams – the bright colour interconnecting to and contrasting with the calming white. This semi-open workplace design, by ACDF Architecture, facilitates creative work by providing opportunities for rewarding social interactions between employees.
Photobox, London, UK. Oktra
Photobox worked with Oktra to plan a workplace that supported a collaborative environment for their 400 employees. Entirely open-plan, the layout provides for a combination of flexible work, daily stand-up and teamwork spaces thus empowering employees to unlock their creativity and unleash their talents. Photobox claims they now have more engaged employees, increased customer conversions and faster feature deployment on all their platforms
Pinterest, San Francisco, Cal. USA. All of the Above / First Office
Built inside a former industrial space, four white cuboids stretch from floor to rooftop, connected by a steel-enforced mezzanine level balancing open-plan work and dining spaces. The white cube pockets display a curious layout of tables, allowing employees to invent new ways to brainstorm, meet and socialise. The designers believe that a creative office cannot function on efficiency alone, but that every individual contributes to the creative company culture – ie a departure from the desk, the conference room and the office-culture, as we knew them.
Revolut, London UK. Studio Rinald / ThirdWay interiors
Based in Canary Wharf in London, Revolut has challenged the banking establishment with its open, agile border-crossing digital banking platform. With a nod to the banking model, they have added a flexible and adaptable working place. A huge glass volume space provides a central focus with workspaces encircling allowing traffic to flow easily and energy lines to be respected. Varying sized desks transform spaces providing a ‘white-paper’ approach that encourages informal distribution where employees can both interact or create an intimate atmosphere as and when required.
