Stories - 29 September '19

Diminish the dreaded noise of an open-plan office

The open office spaces / office gardens / open office – or whatever name you give them – have gained a lot of popularity since + – 2010, together with agile work. The idea for the open office space arose because there was a need for co-working between the different teams and flexibility of the available spaces.

But over time, various studies also revealed drawbacks: people could only work for 11 minutes without being interrupted, they are constantly receiving incentives from the environment and staff are becoming more anti-social because they send more emails and talk less. You also hear continuous noise.

Every person has different needs and requirements, also generally of course, but also when it comes to office space. The marketing team seeks inspiration and thrives in a mobile environment with light, color and sound. An IT professional sometimes finds it more pleasant to work in a quiet room where he is not distracted. You cannot put all employees together, because there is a difference in different positions.

What does the open office space look like?

The open office space has become a uniformity: different workplaces, coffee and if you’re lucky a place where you can work by yourself. Ringing telephones, talking and walking colleagues and other elements that disturb you in your daily work routine.

Silence is an important condition for being able to work well. But it appears that we cannot work properly when we are working completely undisturbed. An open office garden is therefore not the most ideal work situation, but working individually isn’t either.

Get energy from your workplace

You want to be productive, get energy from your workplace. You want your work to be of value and of the best quality. In many cases you need concentration for that. How do you resolve office noise in an open office space?

When sound masking technology is applied in an office, the concentration capacity of employees increases by 46% and they make 10% fewer errors.

As mentioned by Julian Treasure (sound expert) in his TED talk.

Switch all telephones to silent

Sounds from your telephone reduces the attention of yourself and that of your colleagues. If you put all the phones on silent, distraction is considerably reduced. Afraid to miss an important phone call? Or a WhatsApp message from an important customer? Then synchronize your phone with your internet browser so that your WhatsApp notifications arrive on your screen and you still get them.

Use headphones

Nowadays there are different headphones available, including headphones with noise canceling. That means it muffles all ambient noise. Put on your headphones and the rest of the world is gone.

Furniture with acoustic elements

Another solution to reduce noise in office: furniture with acoustic elements. You are in the office, you need furniture. How useful is it when you combine furniture with acoustic elements? We understand that. So we started to design a series of products that contribute to a pleasant working environment.

Acoustic wall panels

Acoustic wall panels are panels that you can hang on the wall. In addition to being sound-absorbing, you can add fun elements to it that make them look nice and functional. For example, shelves to set things up and brochure holders. The panels (Pillow Wall) are available in various designs (fabrics and colors). This way, they always match the design of your office and they ensure less office noise. The Pillow Wall is available in different sizes with different options, plus in almost every fabric and color.

Shielding you from your colleagues

The use of office screens at your workplace provides a great sense of privacy. After all, you cannot see each other continuously and these furniture are also sound-absorbing. You can mount our Pillow Desk on your desk with a clamp, but we also have separate variants with holders. Or the Trunk Desk. That is the small Trunk variant that you can take with you everywhere. You can store memos, magazines and possessions in it. Everything has been thought about ?

A multifunctional room divider

A multifunctional room divider cannot be missing from our range. They are ideal for visually closing off spaces. Our Trunk is mobile, so you can move it if necessary. At the same time, it offers space for memos, magazines and jackets. In addition, you can have a whiteboard or LCD support mounted on it, so the Trunk becomes a stylish tool for your workplace or meeting room. All cables can be stored by means of a zipper at the bottom, so that it does not interfere with moving the room divider.

Our Pillow Space

The Pillow Space is one of our multifunctional acoustic furniture. The standard version has acoustic panels on the front and back and is closed on both sides. But that’s not everything. The Pillow Space has interesting additional options: coat hooks, magazine holders, whiteboards, LCD support, wardrobe racks, shelves and at the top a planter. The Pillow Space is available in various sizes, fabrics and colors. So next to the functionality that you need, it is also fully available in your corporate identity colors. That gives you energy!

Plants in the workplace

“Research from the TU in Delft has shown that plants contribute to sound absorption. The sound absorption of materials in a room determine the reverberation time. The more sound absorption is present, the shorter the reverberation time. The result has shown that plants can be used to disable echo in company buildings. “

That is why we have added a series of planters. You can place plants anyway in the Pillow Space (on top). We also have a series of planters in our range, called Rombo. Rombo is a diamond-shaped planter, but can also serve as a table by using an HPL table top. Or as a seat element by using a seat cushion in a fabric of your choice. Rombo is available in various heights and colors, a series with various playful configurations. Mix and match Rombo to create a living ecosystem.

Mute sound at a high level

With all these tools you can combine the advantages of an open office space with elements that significantly reduce the disadvantages. Less office noise ensures much more effectiveness and therefore gives staff much more satisfaction in their work.

That’s the goal.

SOURCES

Publication date: 2019.09.29
Author: Cascando

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