The ambience of an office should be spacious, bright, airy and cozy. It should be conducive to efficient work and amiable temperament. It should be satisfying to the employer, employees and visitors. It should reduce the tiredness, tension and indifference of the visitors. It should induce an urge to work, select, think, discuss and be creative in whatever work they are assigned.
A fine interior also attracts better employees and that chances are they will work harder. The visitors are also impressed by it and like to deal on a long term basis with the organizations having pleasant interiors and comfortable working space.
Executive offices provide not only work space, but sometimes a conference area and almost always a soft seating group. A large desk and matching credenza unit; a large posture chair for the executive; two or more guest chairs at the desk; a soft seating group consisting of club chairs, love seats, settees, or sofa and club chair arrangements; and perhaps additional storage units such as bookcases, file cabinets, or display cabinets are all common in executive offices. Colors and styles of furniture are also tailored to individual tastes in the executive suite.
Furniture
Furniture arrangements are also important in executive and other private offices. Workstations rather than offices are designed to meet strict functional needs rather than the status needs of those in private offices. Thus, workstations are smaller than private offices and are often farther away from the prime areas in the facility. Depending on the planning and teaming philosophy of the company, department supervisors or team leaders may have their workstations located along the window walls or mixed in with those of their departmental teams.
Workstations are cubiles with panels. The height of the panels will be determined by equipment needs and job function. The size of the workstation in square feet will also be based on function. A workstation for staff members can be 64 to 120 square feet. Naturally, some are larger and others smaller based on needs and job rank. The station is then completed with the appropriate configuration of components for work surfaces, storage, and filing. One or two guest chairs might also be included in the workstation, depending on the employee's job function. Specific component needs will vary considerably, depending on the job responsibilities. Information gathered during programming, as well as company standards and the interior designer's experience, will be applied in determining the proper component needs of employees.
Open and partially enclosed L- and U-shaped (or even triangular) workstations are common today. These configurations are advantageous for locating a computer in the corner and preserving space on one or both sides of the computer for other work areas. With today's more compact computer monitors and flat screens, work surfaces at least 24 inches deep are appropriate to create the station. Special corner work surfaces with a keyboard tray option are available. A file cabinet or panel-hung file component and bookshelves for storage of additional reference materials can be specified, depending on employee job needs. Specific job requirements may necessitate additional furniture or components.
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