Conference rooms, mostly perceived as the most dreadful & stressful parts of an office; can actually be de-complicated & simplified. Most of the office spaces that we talk about – as for the commoners & users, the term ‘OFFICE’ itself is associated with stress. Have you ever given a thought whether the architecture or interiors was a contributing factor to it? Whether we acknowledge it or not… some mistakes on our part as designers create environments that accentuate the existing stress! Today, however our call of concern is how we could make the dreaded “CONFERENCE ROOMS” less horrible & more transparent.
Did you even think I actually meant it when I said TRANSPARENT?!! Well I did. Now that the trend is picking up & the most efficient way of planning, is to use glass & not some opaque partition. The drawbacks of the latter are that the mere lack of transparency could – one, make things seem wee-bit serious & two, that visually reduces your office space. While using glass, since there is no visual barrier your office space doesn’t seem to end right before your conference room. The latest trending offices are more worker & user- friendly & don’t actually believe in visual display of ‘work-order hierarchy’.
Utilise spaces that would otherwise become waste & dusty corners in your offices like spaces under the staircase & some odd-profile corners! This not makes the conference room a part of the office in the real sense but also saves you space! The use of furniture may not always be the conventional rectangular table & boring chairs! Go ahead & experiment to get in some cool stuff to make the place more interesting like sofas or bean bags! Use of greens could help tremendously in the “stress factor”.
Take note of the lighting in there. Don’t overdo it or under do. You could get some tips from our previous article on “OFFICE LIGHTING”. The discussion environment shouldn’t be disturbed & hence use lights at a considerable distance from your table! Last but not the least, time for some COLORS! The only place seeming appropriate for the display of some art & colours in a wall if available or the FLOORS! Why not go in for some colourful & vibrant flooring to do with some blande surroundings?!
I guess we have spoken a lot about conference rooms, let’s see what you can best come up with….well if there is an issue, we at APEX are always there!
Projects on display [IMAGES] – Top right – Project by Hofman Dujardin Architect; Top left – Media Alliance office, Moscow; Bottom right – Splank Office, San Francisco; Bottom left – Dropbox office, Sydney.
Also check out our tips for Home Furniture selection