Office building is a structure used primarily for the conduct of business, such as administration, clerical services, and consultation with clients and associates. Such buildings can be large or small, and may house one or more business concerns.
An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty.
In today’s competitive business environment, organizations can no longer afford to waste the potential of their workforce. There are key factors in the employee’s workplace environment that impact greatly on their level of motivation and performance. It is not just coincidence that new programs addressing lifestyle changes, work/life balance, health and fitness - previously not considered key benefits - are now primary considerations of potential employees, and common practices among the most admired companies.
Office design mainly depends on the function of the office and working schedule and regular timings of the office. The purpose of its design should be studied carefully for a successful office design. The number of people and the kind of people that are going to be working in the office have to be taken into consideration so as to provide a comfortable working space.
There may be hundreds of employees in an office facility, requiring careful attention to information gathering during programming. Good workplaces with distraction-free environments bring positive results for companies.
Gathering information on the space and equipment needs of each employee, as well as the space and equipment needs of all other support areas is very important in the preplanning phase, more commonly called the programming phase.
During programming, the interior designer must obtain information about the employees' work relationships and job adjacencies, communication patterns, furniture requirements, privacy needs, and technology usage such as corporate networks and teleconferencing.
At this stage the interior designer prepare documents and plans on space allocation, furniture specification, and architectural and furniture finish selections. Other important planning elements for an office project, as well as any type of commercial project, include mechanical interface, lighting design, accessibility requirements, and attention to codes.
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