Integrating workspaces, corporate culture a fundamental design principle

13 July 2018
Accommodating organisational behaviour and culture, combined with the need to cater for an ever-evolving workplace, is a growing trend in office and commercial developments, according to Paragon Interface Director Claire D’Adorante
Document Downloads 
application/msword iconIntegrating workspaces, corporate culture a fundamental design principle39.5 KBDownload
PreviewParagon Interface Director Claire D Adorante.1.24 MBDownload
PreviewDesign variables are floor-plate efficiency and space planning for expansion.8.86 MBDownload
PreviewMeeting spaces and breakout areas have to be integrated into the overall design.9.79 MBDownload
PreviewSasol Place is an example of an enabling and supportive workplace environment.6.86 MBDownload
PreviewWorkplaces embody corporate culture, but also need to cater for the wellbeing of employees.6.87 MBDownload

It is important to design office spaces that not only embody corporate culture, but that stimulate creativity within the workplace. “We believe there is a growing trend for workspaces, meeting spaces, and break-out areas to be incorporated and integrated seamlessly as fundamental design and planning principles,” D’Adorante argues.

Design variables that have to be taken into consideration are floor-plate efficiency and space flexibility for future needs, while simultaneously providing an enabling and supportive environment for staff. This includes team clusters, cellular spaces, and stimulating break-out areas.

“Our design approach emphasises teamwork and collaboration over hierarchy and insular work practices, and concentrates on creating a balance between the individual within a particular environment, in combination with the particular workplace culture,” D’Adorante elaborates.

Key factors here are flexibility, so as to maximise space usage, and identify potential growth areas in the building; efficiency, which means creating multiple-use spaces; adaptability, so as to respond to changing requirements and technologies; and sustainability, which relates to ‘green’ and healthy work environments that support the wellbeing of all staff.

Additional criteria are privacy, which means adding quiet rooms, focus spaces, and concentrated work areas; using acoustic materials to minimise noise transference; dividing open spaces by means of planters, filing cabinets, low screens, and existing architectural elements to create a sense of personal space; and using colour and texture, in addition to stimulating furniture and fittings, to create dedicated team areas and neighbourhoods.

The Paragon Group combines architecture, interior architecture, and space planning under a single umbrella to offer a complete turnkey service to its clients. “We deliver commercial architecture, master-planning, interior design, and space-planning services to a range of clients in all segments of the property market,” D’Adorante explains.

Ends

Connect with the Paragon Group on Social Media to receive the company’s latest news
Facebook
: https://www.facebook.com/paragonarchitects
LinkedIn
: http://bit.ly/ParagonGroupLinkedIn     

Notes to the Editor
To download hi-res images for this release, please visit http://media.ngage.co.za and click the Paragon Group link to view the company’s press office.

About the Paragon Group                                                                                
Paragon, established in October 1997, is an internationally-active African design business, based in Johannesburg. It delivers commercial architecture, masterplanning, interior design, and space planning to visionary clients in all property sectors.

We are committed to Africa, and believe in the future of its cities. Our roots are here. We have much to offer. We are able and agile, and actively participate in the continent’s urban and human development. Paragon is flexible and diverse in its approach to design. Each project is unique and not driven by style, but by lifestyle and a response to user needs. Elegant and efficient planning form the core of our designs. We understand the needs of our clients, and know how to generate ever new architectural forms in a competitive property market.

We are known for hands-on engagement with all opportunities present in the modern global building industry. The true measure of our skill is our ability to engage at all levels and with all players that make up the colourful world of construction and property development. Our buildings look forward. We embrace the future, because we will be a part of it – part of its problems and responsibilities, and part of its great freedoms and achievements.

Media Contact

Renay Tandy

NGAGE Public Relations

Phone: (011) 867 7763

Fax: 086 512 3352

Cell: 082 562 5088

Email: renay [at] ngage [dot] co [dot] za

Web: www.ngage.co.za

Browse the NGAGE Media Zone for more client press releases and photographs at http://media.ngage.co.za