Open plan offices
An office is a building, portion of a building, or a room, that is used for desk-based business purposes. Approved Document B defines an office as ‘premises used for the purpose of administration, clerical work, handling money, and communications’, and so on.
Offices may contain some or all of the following generic types of work space:
- Open plan: A floor space that isn’t enclosed, typically made up of rows of desks for use by a large number of people.
- Team space: A semi-enclosed work space for groups of people.
- Cubicle: Semi-enclosed work space for use by one person.
- Private office: An enclosed work space for use by one person.
- Shared office: An enclosed work space for use by two or more people.
- Study booth: An enclosed work space for use by one person for a short period, i.e. for making a phone call or holding a video meeting.
Open plan offices are seen as less hierarchical, and can offer the greatest flexibility and space efficiency. They can also create an ‘open’, creative, collaborative and communicative environment where occupants work together rather than being separated by walls and closed doors.
However, they can be noisy and distracting, cramped and provide little privacy or security.
There may be functions that it is not appropriate to carry out in open plan offices, such as meetings, personal or sensitive conversations, loud or potentially distracting activities such as presentations and so on.
A study by Harvard researchers Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban published in 2018 actually suggested that open plan spaces stifle collaboration, reducing the number of face-to-face interactions and increasing the use of phones and email. The authors suggested that "Rather than prompting increasingly vibrant face-to-face collaboration, open architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to socially withdraw from officemates”. Ref https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2017.0239
A University of Arizona study published in 2018 suggested that workers in open-plan offices are 'more active', with 32% more physical activity than workers in private offices and 20% more than those in cubicles. https://oem.bmj.com/content/75/10/689
Movable partitions can allow multiple activities to happen in close proximity to one another, accommodating different settings that support different activities. The next generation work-space has flexibility and adaptability, but where workers can manipulate their surrounding and express their creativity.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Building activities definition.
- Building spaces definition.
- Change of use class.
- Defining the office.
- Hub and spoke model.
- Movable walls.
- Office.
- Office design and data privacy.
- Premises.
- Property.
- Types of building.
- Types of room.
- Use class.
- Wellbeing and creativity in workplace design - case studies.
- Workplaces of the future.
Featured articles and news
Definition of Statutory in workplace and facilities management
Established by IWFM, BESA, CIBSE and BSRIA.
The general election and the construction industry
As PM, Rishi Sunak announces July 4 date for an election.
Tackling the lack of knowledge or confidence in heat pumps
The CICV Green Home Festival part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Home improvements swapped for green energy upgrades
As applications down since and desire to reduce bills up.
Eco apprenticeships continue help grow green workforce
A year after being recognised at the King's coronation.
The Use of Natural Insulation Materials in Retrofit
New paper from STBA with support from SDF.
National Retrofit Hub in partnership with InstallerSHOW.
Permitted development rights for agricultural buildings
The changes coming into effect as of May 21, 2024.
Biodiversity and the built environment digital series
The nature of building, with CIOB and CWP.
A call for prevention and sensitive re-use.
Risks to the long-term effectiveness of the BNG scheme
National Audit Office publish review of Biodiversity Net Gain.
The CIAT principal designer register
Providing assurance and verification of the capability and competence of registered ATs.
Building Safety recommendations and Northern Ireland
The NI roadmap to improving safety in high rise residential.
Specifying rendered external wall insulation for fire safety
How to interrogate the evidence provided to the specifier.
The benefits of writing articles for your organisation
How to create a profile for your organisation and publish for free.
Scottish Government action to reach net-zero targets
Retrofit expert group highlight critical actions needed.
A forward thinking, inclusive global community of members.