What do you think of when you think of a typical company office? Pretty much what you expect, right? Grey cubicles with black chairs, some private offices located around the edges with bland walls and carpet. Maybe there’s a reception area and a break room. There’s fluorescent lights overhead, computer screens, phones, and all the rest. If you’re lucky maybe you’re near a window if the office has any windows at all.
Recently, however, there’s been a shift from these utilitarian offices to offices that have a big focus on design – of reconciling function with aesthetics. There is a focus on not just “does it work” but does it look good? Businesses and corporations have become serious about design, not just related to it’s products, but to its workspaces.
Take Facebook and Twitter, for example. They’ve become magnets for creative millennial talent.
The furniture and colors are interesting. Spaces are designed to maximize creativity and collaboration. There’s a full body and mind focus. Gourmet food and coffee is available, there’s exercise opportunities on-site. The building exteriors are compelling, as well as the common areas. These companies consider design in every aspect in a way to reconcile efficiency and utility with innovation and creativity.
An article in the New York Times about cutting edge workplace design highlights Twitter’s philosophy on office function:
The company encourages informal meetings in this low-stress setting, hoping that it will help foster new ideas. Back in the business area, there are open-plan work spaces, along with individual file cabinets on rollers that can be moved to wherever an employee will next be working.
Here, as at many other tech companies, is a sense that nothing is permanent, that any product can be dislodged from greatness by something newer. It’s the aesthetic of disruption: We must all change, all the time. And yet architecture demands that we must also represent something lasting.
So, does your workplace need a 21st Century update? Refreshing your office space may be necessary for today’s competitive and creative business environment, but it doesn’t have to break the bank.
If you’re ready to make some updates, you’ll need to part with your old office furniture and equipment. That can be an enormous challenge. Not only can Sancus Network help you liquidate your furniture and equipment, we may be able to help you sell it at maximum value and you can use those proceeds to invest in a more modern office. To learn more, check out our office liquidation services or contact us.