Collaborative spaces have transformed the office into an eminently social ecosystem. One of the great lessons of the pandemic is that for our emotional balance we need to be part of a community. We are social beings, it’s in our DNA.
The days in the office today are for teamwork, to work with collaborative methodologies such as design thinking or simply to exchange impressions or resolve doubts with our colleagues. Also to achieve the privacy or concentration that many people do not get at home.
And, especially, the office is the only possible scenario to create a sense of belonging and group in the workforce, and to connect employees with the culture, purpose and values of the company.
4 must-have collaborative spaces in the office
New offices have different spaces for different needs. Ofita’s ebook: “3×4 = 12. The formula for the new workspaces” configures the office according to 3 areas (blue, orange and red). Today, we talk about the red or “hot” areas.
These are the 4 collaborative spaces for the noisiest activities; the main meeting and collaboration spaces in the office are: the plaza, the multifunction rooms, the meeting rooms and the teamwork rooms.
The plaza
The plaza is a social space where workers can work, socialise, eat or have a coffee.
It is the old office in the workplace that has now become the main meeting point in the office. It is the common space for all workers.
It is welcoming and is now used at any time. It is not only social, it is highly functional and productive as it is ideal for impromptu meetings, informal gatherings – also with outsiders – and for individual work at certain times.
It is carefully designed to foster experiences, to reflect the corporate brand and to connect employees with corporate values.
The multifunctional rooms
The two defining characteristics of these collaborative spaces are flexibility and versatility.
They are designed for everything from training to project presentations to brainstorming sessions between colleagues.
These collaborative spaces are like a district within this imaginary city that is the office, because inside it contains on a smaller scale the different neighbourhoods: spaces for remote working, for more privacy, for meetings, for informal exchange…
A unique feature of this space is that it has everything you might need in a room for a long meeting, including breakout areas or a small kitchen, for example.
Team rooms
Team rooms are the collaborative spaces in the office where co-creation takes place and innovation is generated. They facilitate methodologies such as agile, scrum or lean startup, through a flexible, agile, versatile space.
These spaces can be dedicated to a team or to the development of a project, so they must be flexible to accommodate teams of different sizes within an organisation, and reconfigurable.
They are equipped with everything needed for collaboration – from agoras to sit/stand tables – as well as for communication, with movable panels or whiteboards, for example.
Meeting rooms
This is the place where the client should have a WOW! experience with our brand. It must impress them, both for its spectacular aesthetics and for its technological equipment, incorporated in the furniture, both for presentations and for remote communication for people who join virtually. For this reason, it includes videoconferencing in the workplace and monitors.
In Ofita’s ebook: “3×4 =12. The formula of the new workspaces” you will find more information about these 4 spaces as well as those that form the orange areas (the spaces that serve as transit between one activity and another) and the blue areas (the spaces designed for more concentrated work and those that require more environmental silence).
