Responsible design is key to making it work.

In many companies the walls of traditional, enclosed office space have tumbled to make way for open-office floor plans, evolved to encourage collaboration and communication while blurring the line between obvious job hierarchies.  In addition to build out cost-savings, other benefits can include enhanced employee productivity and job satisfaction; however, care must be taken when planning in order to avoid potential pitfalls.

One major challenge of the open environment involves acoustics and increased office noise levels.  Though it may be advantageous and cost-effective to support a larger number of employees in a smaller amount of space, it is important to ensure that attendant noise escalation does not cause increased employee distraction and unnecessary stress.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to reduce the impact of noise in open offices.  The components that should be considered to achieve a successful, productive open-space floor plan include:

• Height and composition of partitions
• Ceiling material and height
• Systems furniture
• Shape, placement and treatment of walls
• Design and noise of HVAC systems
• The depth and materials enclosing the plenum (the space above the ceiling and below the floor)

• Grouping of job types
• Placement of people
• Phone systems used
• Sound masking options

Though people are by nature social and gregarious, it’s important to remember that the majority of work that needs to be completed in most offices is “quiet” work involving writing, reading or analyzing of material.  When designing space and floor plans, effectively balancing the need to concentrate with the need to communicate will help to make the workplace a happier, more productive environment for the company’s most valuable resource, its employees.

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