In the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary workplaces, the need for collaborative workspaces is more crucial than ever as office interior design can significantly impact team dynamics.

This article provides detailed guidance for crafting collaborative workspaces along with examples from our past projects’ portfolio—learn how layouts, breakout spaces, and colour palettes influence productivity and bring teams together in an engaging environment.

How Can Office Interior Design Foster Collaboration?

Office interior design plays an integral role in cultivating a collaborative work environment. It takes a thorough understanding of the real estate goals, and careful planning of a workspace layout to facilitate effective teamwork and cross-functional partnerships between colleagues.

Open Floor Plans

An open layout encourages spontaneous interactions and facilitates free-flowing communication—when colleagues can see and readily interact with each other, it fosters a sense of connection that fuels collaboration.

Shared Amenities

Incorporating shared amenities where people naturally congregate creates opportunities for collaborative exchange. A staff lounge, pantry, or cafeteria allowing colleagues to take breaks together helps foster bonding over casual conversation.

Designing for Changing Work Styles and Needs

A true collaborative workspace accounts for the variety of work styles and needs your employees may have. Some prefer quiet, focused solo work, while others thrive on active collaboration and open exchange of ideas.

Private Offices—Meeting Pods, Focus Rooms, Phone Booths

Meeting pods, focus rooms, and phone booths are increasingly popular amongst companies where employees are expected to attend to business calls and tele-meetings.

For those who need extended periods of focused work, focus rooms serve to cater to this. These enclosed spaces minimise distractions and support productivity. A thoughtfully-designed layout helps integrate such private offices in the floor plan so they fulfil their purpose while still feeling part of the overall space.

Integrating phone booths and focus rooms at M1 and RBI offices.

Flex Zones

The inclusion of flexible spaces can help to accommodate different needs. Instead of a strictly-defined usage of a space, consider an open area where users have the freedom to interact with the space in accordance to their needs.

By having effective layout planning, the area originally intended to be a townhall space, now doubles as a lounge and event space where employees can enjoy a game of table tennis and bond with colleagues.

Providing options for different work styles empowers your employees to choose the space that suits their needs. By designing for all work modes, you create an office that elevates productivity through choice and flexibility.

Harness the Power of Lighting in Collaborative Workspaces

Lighting selection is one crucial and major component when designing an office interior. From choosing the lighting type—natural, ambient and task lighting, to assessing the energy efficiency of each option.

Energy Efficient Options

When selecting lighting for a collaborative workspace, choose energy efficient options like light-emitting diodes (LEDs), fluorescents or natural light whenever possible. LEDs and fluorescents consume less energy than incandescent bulbs and last significantly longer. Automated controls like occupancy sensors, timers and dimmers help reduce energy usage by turning off lighting when spaces are unoccupied.

Natural, Task versus Ambient Lighting

1. Natural light

• Exposure to natural light during working hours has been shown to improve mood, boost productivity and enhance alertness.
• Place workstations near windows whenever possible and consider installing skylights to allow more natural light into the space.

2. Task lighting

• Task lighting provides targeted illumination for specific work activities.
• For collaborative spaces, task lighting could include pendant lights over conference tables, desk lamps, or track lighting.

Pendant lights come in many shapes and sizes—pick one that best matches your corporate identity.

3. Ambient lighting

• Ambient or general lighting brightens the overall workspace and helps create an inviting atmosphere.
• For a collaborative area, consider recessed lighting, wall sconces or architectural lighting like cove lighting.

Inclusion of wall sconces in the nook of an office helps to create a comfortable atmosphere where colleagues can congregate and have a discussion.

With the right combination of natural light, task lighting and ambient lighting, a collaborative workspace can achieve the ideal brightness and illumination for creativity, productivity and collaboration.

Using Colour to Create an Energising Environment

The colours you choose for your office space have a significant impact on the mood and productivity of employees. By combining brand colours, bright neutral tones and strategic use of focal points, you can craft an office environment that uplifts moods and fuels creativity.

Application of Brand Colours

Incorporating brand colours into office interiors can be achieved by utilising them in wall paint or graphic, furniture upholstery, decorative accents, and branding elements such as signage and artwork. Maintaining consistency in the use of brand colours across the space helps to strengthen brand identity and establish visual harmony.

Bright Neutral Tones

For wall colours, bright neutral tones work well. Shades of beige, tan and light grey create a cheerful backdrop that provides contrast for furnishings and décor without darkening the space.

For this office, we adopted a white coat for the brick wall—adding a textural contrast allowing flexibility in switching out accent colours when a refresh is needed.

Focal Points

Strategically placed splashes of vibrant colour at focal points help to draw attention and energise a space. Colourful artwork, pillows, chairs or other décor items can also be added at transitional spaces where people gather.

NUS Enterprise-Research Institute, BLOCK71, Chongqing’s Statement window wall—adding a pop of colour to brighten up the office.

Incorporating Technology and Digital Tools

To facilitate collaborative work in an office space, incorporating technology and digital tools are essential. With the rapid digitisation of the workplace, providing employees access to technologies that improve productivity and collaboration should be a top priority.

Interactive Whiteboards and Audio-Visual Conferencing Set-up

Interactive whiteboards, such as Smart Boards or Promethean Boards, provide a large interactive display where teams can brainstorm ideas, give presentations, annotate documents, and more. Whereas a seamlessly setup audio-visual information technology tools in the office helps bring the collaborative workspace online.

Feedback and Iteration

Finally, design with adaptability in mind. Regularly seek feedback from employees and stakeholders, and use this valuable input to iterate and improve the workspace continually. An evolving environment that responds to the needs of its users is key to long-term success.

Conclusion

As you have seen, creating collaborative work environments involves a thoughtful blend of design, functionality, and flexibility. By incorporating these principles into your corporate office projects, you are not just crafting spaces but sculpting environments that inspire creativity, enhance productivity, and foster a sense of unity among employees. Let's elevate the way we work together!