Design is incredibly important for coworking spaces as they need to prove their superiority over the traditional offices. Besides, an outstanding design supports and expresses your brand identity. The goal of this article is to give you some ideas and inspiration on the latest workspace design trends. Following them, you will be able to enhance brand positions through recognizable interiors and attract new customers, be they millennials or seasoned entrepreneurs. Some tricks work for all audience categories😉.
I know that trendy workspace design is frequently associated with tons of money. And it really requires certain investments. However, knowing what things make a coworking space design great, will save you from extraordinary expenses and guarantee a brilliant result.
Maybe you are already operating a competitive coworking network, or just planning to branch out, the information will be useful either way as workspace design improvements never end at your hub.
Well, let's wind up this introduction and get to the workspace design trends you've come for.
Key Elements of Awesome Coworking Space Design
Let's answer a simple question before we start. What makes a shared workspace you offer better than traditional office space. I guess the right word is flexibility. Members come to your coworking center not only to get the job done as this can be successfully accomplished in a traditional office. They are looking for autonomy when they need it. Your coworking space must give them what they want and even more, to exceed expectations.
1. Perfect Lighting
Great lighting is the first point on my list of workspace design tips because our productivity, efficiency, and even mood depend on how much daylight we can enjoy. Here your coworking space can easily beat a traditional office as not every office can boast floor-to-ceiling windows and even if it can, not all employees can sit near the window when they feel the lack of vitamin D.
In other words, if your coworking space possesses huge windows, it has all chances to become really fancy with the right approach to design. Anyway, you need a variety of lighting solutions at your hub—
- big windows for natural light,
- task lighting,
- and warm ambient light.
Combine your lighting solutions with climate control (it would be great to let it vary in different areas). These are the basics of creating a comfortable atmosphere.
Fora Borough Space, London with its huge windows and plenty of soft natural light.
By the way, speaking about office necessities. I believe that good lighting is a workspace must as well as office supplies you provide to your members. All those small conveniences like paper, pens, pencils, staplers, paper clips, copy machines, printers, and so on make a huge difference.
2. Fancy Design
This one is straightforward. People are attracted to beautiful things. Luxury elements not only feast their eyes but let them feel better, dream bolder, and reach better results. Fancy workspace designs are very effective. Members are excited to come to you every day.
However, the quality design notion is much deeper than a set of cute stuff that feasts the eye. By opting for this or that hues, shapes, and materials, you send powerful signals to your target audience. You turn your workspace into a reflection of their personalities, likes, and preferences.
For instance, a women-focused coworking space will differ a lot from the one welcoming both guys and girls together with their pets.
When you tailor the design of your coworking space to a particular group's taste, you get additional benefits for your brand.
- Your marketing becomes more precise, which means it's easier to bring the right people inside.
- Homogeny facilitates harmony as you build strong relationships and loyalty across your member base.
The Nest, central meting space in Warsaw, where tranquil color palette exists in perfect harmony with each design element helping the brightest business ideas get into life.
3. Areas with Different Sceneries
Arranging different areas featuring different sceneries is one more design trick that takes your coworking space to the higher league. Members can move to different areas during the day. Some of them are powerful enough to stimulate their brain, some tune them to a particular mood, some are perfect to take a break.
You surely need to have workspaces that look similar to traditional office space, but they must be more modern, comfortable, and polished.
Include artsy sections with crazy patterns and accessories, find inspiration in stylish coffee shops or even gothic buildings. Your ultimate goal here is to walk away from everything staid and stuffy associated with traditional office settings.
Artfully-crafted coworking at The Shop, the US featuring unconventional solutions that merge to create a shared workspace that works for members.
4. Let Them Seat Anywhere
The traditional office offers a desk and a chair to employees while coworking spaces provide all sorts of seating arrangements to members. For instance, a person can choose a beanbag, a high stool, a soft sofa, a bright wing chair, or maybe even a throw pillow or mat.
Apart from aesthetic appeal, this variety has a practical sense. It helps members to get a fresh perspective when they are looking for the optimal solution to the task, issue, or problem. It helps entrepreneurs avoid long holdbacks when they get stuck in a rut.
Multiple seating arrangements in Neue House, Hollywood.
5. Quiet Areas
Today, a coworking space is much more than a place where people come to work. But getting the job done still stays primal for most of the members. Some tasks require focus and quiet, so you must take care of the isolated, noise-free workstations at your hub to let members find some solitude.
Not less important are areas where professionals working on different projects can mingle and interact with one another while working. Isn't it cool when a startup team finds out that the talent they lack is sitting next to their CEO in the same room?
Peace and quiet in the middle of buzz at Second Home, London.
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6. Live Plants & Eco-friendly Environment
Being "green" and eco-friendly is not only trendy, it's vital. Modern people stop eating meat, wearing natural furs and leather, using plastic, and items that can't be recycled. They try to contribute to environmental protection and live in harmony with nature. For that reason, eco-friendly coworkings are growing popularity.
Even if you don't plan to go "entirely green," you can still implement many elements of eco-friendly culture and mindset. For example, you can blend living plants into workspace design and get green-certified.
Plants are not only beautiful, they reduce stress and anxiety at work, they encourage well-being and sustainability, which makes their presence at your workspace pretty crucial. According to Forbes, “green” buildings produce a 26% boost in cognition and 30% fewer sickness-related absences.
Members of the Uncommon, London workspace can breathe really deep with all those living plants around.
A building without greenery is just unnatural. Plants create fresh air and make you happy, so the more the better. Roof terrace outside, plenty of pots inside. A healthier workspace to be.
7. Snack Bars and Nice Places to Eat
Members can't be healthy, happy, and efficient without good nutrition. So, the quality of your snacks makes a big difference in the members' experience. This is a good reason not only to provide good coffee, healthy food, fruit, chips, and more but create well-designed food stations and kitchens as additional areas for networking and collaboration.
The restaurant at Crew Collective and Cafe, Montreal.
8. Futuristic Technology
It's hardly possible to imagine a trendy workspace design without small technological marvels. Your community is progressive and advanced, they tend to futuristic interiors supplemented by hi-tech gadgets.
Meeting room display is one of the solutions that add a futuristic feel to your premises, contribute to better UX (user experience), and even solve problems with abandoned bookings.
You can place a tablet with a meeting room display in front of the workspace for members' reference. The display will show if a particular room in a particular workspace is occupied or free at the moment, what is the ongoing meeting progress, and what time it will be available for the new booking.
Meeting Room Displaytechnology available inside Spacebring coworking space app is a final high-tech touch for your meeting room.
Over to You
Architecture and design of coworking spaces will always be among hot topics and primary concerns of niche businessmen. Whether you design from scratch or renovate, you need a good plan that grounds on a deeper understanding of target audience wants and needs along with set guidelines from your brand style guide.
Audience preferences will surely impact your workspace look, yet, some things (like the ones featured above) work for all types of members as these are best practices and workspace architecture trends to follow.
