Practical Considerations When Designing a Commercial Space
In this article, we address three major considerations to of any commercial architecture, design, or decor project:
Now more than ever, employers in New York City are eager for their workers return to the office, so the work atmosphere, and the comfort and safety of employees are of utmost importance. Office interior design plays a crucial role in worker satisfaction and retention. Contemporary design, however, is about more than layout, aesthetics, and decor. It also includes the practical considerations of lighting, sound attenuation, and office furniture selection that take account of workplace ergonomics.
If you are taking on an office interior design project in New York City, either as part of a renovation or because you are moving to a new space, do not overlook the importance of hiring a NYC office decorator with interior design accreditation to help you achieve appealing working conditions in addition to an attractive layout -- fostering employee well-being and retention.
Conference room for a Manhattan office designed by Mammoth Projects
Lighting
Suitable office lighting is one of the components of workplace ergonomics. A well-thought-out and well-designed combination of natural and artificial lighting reduces eye fatigue, drowsiness, and headaches while improving morale.
It is known that exposure to natural light in an office space has a positive impact on employees’ well-being, morale, energy, and stress levels, resulting in greater overall job satisfaction and productivity. Various studies have shown that employees with access to natural light in their office space had higher levels of job satisfaction than those without such access. In fact, a study conducted by the University of Oregon found that up to 10% of days off can be attributed to lack of natural light in the office. Furthermore, the maximization of natural light also reduces energy costs.
As part of your overall lighting plan if your New York office does not have an abundance of natural light, consider features such as the use of dimmer switches, the installation of artificial lighting that mimics natural light such as blue-enriched LED lighting as opposed to fluorescent, and bright, good-quality lighting. Your architecture or design service can help you select the best available lighting options for your space.
We used glass partitions in this conference room for a New York office as a way to maximize natural light while also attenuating sound
Sound Attenuation
Open office plans are one of the most popular configurations in commercial contemporary design. However, one of their downsides of this layout is the high volume of noise it creates. Noise can be distracting to employers, employees, and visitors alike -- for New Yorkers, it is a part of daily life in the city and should be mitigated whenever possible in any interior space. High noise volumes in an can raise blood pressure, increase stress hormone levels, impair short-term memory, reduce attention spans, and result in lower employee productivity.
Lowering the level of ambient noise can be achieved through sound attenuation, which is the loss of energy from sound waves. Decor and proper office furniture selection can dampen sound by interrupting sound waves and hence diminishing the volume and quality of the sound wave. Methods of sound attenuation in your New York office can include noise reduction and the use of a variety of materials and techniques to improve acoustics. The following are some examples:
Noise-absorbing Furniture
Couches, wall partitions, and even filing cabinets can impact an office’s acoustics. Choosing high-backed couches can mitigate the noise situation.
Sound-absorbing Flooring
Surfaces such as concrete and porcelain or ceramic tiles have the ability to create a lot of noise pollution. Alternatives such as carpeting, cork, engineered hardwood, and LVT flooring offer a variety of design options that are easy to maintain, and can significantly cut down on noise.
Acoustic Wall Panels and Ceilings
Sound-absorbing ceiling and wall panels are an excellent tool to combat excessive noise in the workplace. Ask your interior design service about new developments in materials that will optimize your floors, walls, and ceilings to noise reduction.
Partition Walls
Cubicles and partition walls, even half-walls do a great job of controlling noise levels in the workplace. A conference room is an obvious example of how to isolate a space, but today, there are a variety of more flexible, movable partitions on the market that can function as a sound barrier while adding an aesthetic appeal to your New York space.
Floor-to-ceiling Reconfigurable Walls
These can be moved around as needed to create quiet pods, small huddle areas, private offices and other dedicated quiet spaces with great ease. Your New York architect or interior designer should make use of each of these layout possibilities as to reduce noise as much as possible.
Acoustic Curtains
A decor piece such as acoustic curtains, applied to windows and room dividers, can be used to block sound, absorb sound, or both.
Plants
Don’t underestimate the efficacy of well-placed plants to reduce noise levels. They are also an essential part of decor that make any interior space look more hospitable, and can also help improve air quality. Not just with plants, it is important to consider elements from home decor that will bring hospitality to your New York space, as well as make it more elegant. Decor, as a whole, can be a budget-friendly interior design option to reduce noise without having to go into construction.
Office Layout
Your NYC office decorator or architect can help you get creative with overall office layout and furniture to help control noise levels. For example, clusters of desks can help compartmentalize noise, and noisy office equipment can be relocated to a separate room.
Plants help reduce noise while also adding hospitality to your New York office
Ergonomics and Furniture
In today’s world, the prevalent use of computers has greatly contributed to the need to rethink office design in terms of employees’ comfort and health. Ergonomics, as a subject of biotechnology and human engineering, is the study and design of equipment to better fit the human body and how it moves. As it pertains to the office, it is the science of fitting a workplace to a user’s need, as a means to increase efficiency and productivity but also reduce discomfort. Your interior designer can help you navigate what is newest in ergonomics, an increasingly important concept in workplace interior design since the industrial revolution -- and especially in New York. Ergonomic interior design includes every type of furniture, from chairs, desks and desks to accessories, such as keyboards, phones, desks, and monitors.
Functional comfort is a major factor in worker productivity. It can be achieved through the help of a New York interior designer or architect that values mobility and wellbeing as part of the office design. Furniture, such as sit-to-stand desks and wobble stools is one option. But great interior design can also be achieved by thoughtful office layout that gives employees an opportunity to move around, choosing where they want to work, going from one place to another based on the task at hand but also their personal preference. This results in increased worker comfort and enhances health and productivity.
Here are a few of the options for ergonomic furniture:
Seating
A good ergonomic office chair has a number of features designed to improve posture and offer support. Talk to your New York interior designer about furniture options. They include:
Seat height
Seat width and depth
Seat tilt
Lumbar support
Backrest recline
Swivel
Armrests
Wheels
The optimum seat height enables users to place their feet flat on the floor, so an adjustable chair should offer a seat height that ranges from 16” to 21” from the floor.
Height-Adjustable Desks
Another option for furniture that encourages movement is the adjustable height desk. Even working out at the gym regularly will not make up for the negative effects of sitting too much. Also called stand-up and sit-to-stand desks, they allow New Yorkers to change position from sitting to standing throughout the day. Beneficial features include electric rather than hand-cranked adjustment, anti-collision, memory pre-set options, and dual motors to reduce noise and increase speed.
We’re a New York City architecture and interior design firm specializing in residential and commercial interior renovations. If you’d like to connect with us to discuss the scope of your interior design or architecture project, please give us a call or book a complimentary consultation here.