Office Design Tips

Good Background Noise in the office

Common open plan areas such as breakout zones, cafe areas or teapoints are often used as meeting and collaborative areas. Noise is often considered to be a problem. One meeting can interupt another, or individuals working or reading.

A solution is to use background noise. White noise generation hasn't been a great success, mainly because it's an unpleasant sound. However music or TV, distributed by multiple speakers, provides an effective mask for voice, and also sets a noise level which people often blend with, rather than talking too loudly.

TIP use a TV or music to set a masking level of sound.

White noise is typically a hissing noise which is ok when an area has other sound, but is irritating when heard on its own.

Another way to mask the interference of voice is to make air handling equipment emit more noise (defeat the NR setup) so that the air circulation noise is louder. However as with White Noise, this can be intrusive when heard on its own, and cannot be turned off as required.

Unwanted background noise

Open plan desking areas can suffer from noise distraction. Quiet rooms may be one solution, but there are methods to combat open plan distraction. Soft materials (fabric and upholstery, carpet thickness, acoustic baffles, ceiling features, curtains) can help to absorb sound rather than reflect, and this can eliminate speech bounce where noise is reflected to add to the noise level. Screens on desks help to muffle noise, as well.

TIP try to avoid an office interior that uses mostly hard surfaces. Softer materials absorp noise.

Noise between offices can occur due to several reasons. Air conditioning grilles can allow sound to travel between rooms, and is a very common route. Similarly open ceiling voids are another common route for sound transfer. In both cases attenuation is achieved using physical barriers. Sound can also travel under a raised floor, although this is less common.

Partition seals where walls have exposed ductwork are often a problem, and again use a physical barrier as the solution.

Partition walls themselves have a sound rating, and the thicker, more solid, the partition the more sound insulation is achieved. For the very best acoustic insulation a partition can be built through a ceiling up to the structural soffit...but this isn't a flexible solution.

TIP sound travel is stopped by physical barriers. Ceiling baffles, partitions and screens all help to control, or stop, noise travel

Flexible Office Design

Design for a flexible office can be approached in several ways, the most important aspect being the type of flexibility needed. Some offices need flexibility on a week to week basis and for this environment flexible furniture is typically a good solution. For offices that need flexibility over a 6/12 month period, the mechanical and electrical systems, ceilings, partitions and furniture, all need to have inherent flexibility.

Mechanical installations achieve flexibility using flexi ductwork for the air intake and outlets. These can be moved within a suspended ceiling so that a new office layout isn't restricted by air vents in the wrong place. Alongside air vents a suspended ceiling also allows lighting positions to be flexible, so long as cabling and switching supports relocation. Lighting is often controlled via a plug-in spider box to provide flexibility without switching every single fitting.

Partitioning is typically described as 'demountable' to comply with Building Regs., but the most flexible systems either have cover strips, or a cladding system, so that every element is re-usable. Partitions that have a fixed plasterboard surface are typically less reusable and involve more labour and new materials to relocate. The most effective partitioning makes use of clip-in locations rather than a mechanical ceiling fixing, but this requires forethought with the buiding design, such as the Lloyds insurance building.

Electrical supplies should avoid hard wiring. A bus bar system under a raised floor is an ideal method to distribute power whilst being easily altered and added-to. Floorboxes in a raised floor, or floor ports, are a tidy approach and are flexible so long as the floor covering is a tile format.

Wireless data is now achieving high levels of data speeds (up to 150mb) and can be securely controlled so that a network cannot be accessed from outside a building. Wireless systems are now also able to support roaming within a building, and the high data speeds mean that a whole building can be wireless if required.

Flexible furniture comes in many forms. Free-address bench systems support staff numbers that fluctuate to cater for days when numbers peak. A number of ranges are instantly dismantled or assembled, allowing workstations to be kept in store for growth or contraction. Furniture can be nomadic...easily moved by users without need for trained fitters.

TIP The basebuild within an office will play a large part in fostering, or restricting, flexibility. Assess the Landlord fit-out to determine if a building will be inherently flexible.