An office lobby is one of the critical spaces within the business premises. Not long ago, the lobby was just but an open space with sparse furniture. Nowadays, businesses embrace lobby and reception area designs, turning this space into a shared social space and workspace. That said, a well-designed and welcoming lobby can contribute to workplace productivity and brand identity.
To transform your office lobby into a unique common area, you need to rethink the office design. Here are the three things you should keep in mind.
1. Consider a Humanistic Design to Optimize Employee Wellness and Productivity
Employee wellness and workplace productivity are closely interconnected. In fact, a Go365 study found that employees who are highly engaged in wellness programs are more productive with fewer unhealthy days.
A humanistic design is one that meets and even exceeds the needs of your visitors, employees, patients, or customers. In other words, humanistic design is all about considering the mental and biological needs of the occupants. One way of achieving this is by introducing natural elements like ventilation and daylight to create a healthier workplace. Here, you don’t need some complicated design ideas. A couple of indoor plants and natural light exposure will do just perfectly.
If you are to add some reception area furnishings, you want to keep it as minimalist as possible. Additionally, ensure the availability of Wi-Fi, food, beverage, and electrical outlets. All these will make the lobby more work-friendly.
A rule of thumb is to ensure the new design matches the company culture. If you are redesigning the medical waiting rooms, for instance, you want to make the lobbies comfortable for patients. Similarly, you’ll want to incorporate some design aspects that make sense with the company’s brand.
2. Add Simple Enhancements to Boost Brand Awareness
Some design aspects that match the lobby area, such as digital signage and photographs, can effectively connect visitors to your brand. Moreover, the perfect lobby design can create a remarkable first impression, communicating the company values more vividly.
While brand imagery can play a critical role in brand awareness, it’s not the silver bullet. You still need to ensure an exceptional customer experience at the reception area.
3. Bring in Some Aspects of Experience Design
At the heart of experience design are comfort, enjoyment, and satisfaction. For example, people often go to expensive restaurants not necessarily for the food but for the unique experience. Similarly, you want to make the office lobby a place that allows its occupants to reflect, recharge, and renew.
To make the lobby a comfortable place to work and interact, you want to start with quick remodels. For instance, ensure perfect air quality, comfortable guest chairs, unique décor, as well as lively receptionists and staff.
Summary
Modern businesses consider lobbies as a place to make plans, socialize and prepare for the workday. That means an office’s reception area is serving more than one function. According to Emergent consulting Group Research, two-thirds of office work happens outside the office. Therefore, lobbies acting as individual workspaces, event spaces, and group meeting areas are ideal for employees to collaborate on projects.
Lobbies also take up large real estate, which you can leverage to improve employee performance and boost brand awareness. Finally, when incorporating décor into the lobby design, pay attention to the mood and ambiance you want to create. Introducing rich textures and colors into elements like furniture, art, and fixtures may not work well in all offices.
That means you have to consider the impact of a specific design, not only on the existing elements. But also on the people who will be interacting with these elements.