Top Five Office Space Design Trends

It’s been a long winter. What better way to set your sights on spring than freshening up your office space?

Start by incorporating some of the year’s up-and-coming office space design trends. And you don’t need a multi-million-dollar design budget to spruce up your office space. This year’s trends run the price point spectrum, and most are DIY-friendly.

Biophilic design.

It’s really just a fancy term for bringing the outdoors indoors, but goes further than adding potted plants to your workspace. Biophilia means, “love of nature,” and biophilic design pays homage to our instinctive pull toward natural spaces. This design theory uses nature as an “architectural framework,” incorporating not only live plants, but also water features, natural patterns (think wall and floor coverings), airflow simulation and natural lighting. Research has shown that biophilic design can improve employee health and increase creativity and feelings of happiness.

Moveable furniture.

Once again, moveable furniture makes the office design trend list. We’re talking walls/partitions; dividers and furniture with wheels and moveable white or glass wipe boards. Portable furniture helps you configure and reconfigure your space depending on your needs – from client meeting to office holiday party.

The comforts of home.

You might not have a Google budget, but Google did help set the tone for offices equipped with the comforts of home. Main Street employers are responding with comfortable, welcoming spaces that help boost morale and productivity. Gone are the steel grey cubical walls, low ceilings and fluorescent lighting of yesteryear. In their place are bright colors, open floor plans, comfortable furniture and natural and incandescent lighting.

Green dividers.

Out with cubicle walls! In with living walls! Green wall dividers and stand-alone green walls made of low-maintenance living plants can increase privacy, improve air quality and reduce ambient noise by as much as five decibels. They also help you zone an open-floor plan office space. And research out of Texas A&M University proves that plants significantly lower workplace stress and enhance worker productivity.

Trending colors.

Pantone’s Color of the Year is Ultra Violet, a bright, rich purple. Not a fan of purple? No worries. Their home + interiors trend palette for 2018 is a collection of jewel tones – from gorgeous greens, blues and fuchsias to sand and cream-colored neutrals. Apply them to your wall, or strategically brighten up an office space with storage pieces, fabrics or accent pieces that pick up these now-trending colors.