Conventional meeting rooms are no longer the only spaces where startups, small and medium enterprises, large companies or entrepreneurs work to transform their organisations. Collaborative spaces have become work areas that improve and encourage communication between the different professionals in companies.
Users often feel better about themselves when they perform certain functions in familiar surroundings, such as a living room or a space where they can have a coffee with their respective work colleagues. It is in these collaborative working environments where we regain our self-confidence and are encouraged to participate regularly.
We have written this post to explain what collaborative working spaces are, what benefits they can offer to different companies and which collaborative furniture is the best for this type of projects.
What collaborative spaces are
We can define this type of layoutas all those open-plan offices and workspaces whose main objective in choosing and distributing the furniture to favour collaboration between coworkers.
The vast majority of these spaces lack walls or structures that divide or separate the different departments, to enhance and foster communication without detracting from the privacy of the workers.
Although they share this common characteristic, each office, collaborative classroom or collaborative space is unique: they are designed to meet the day-to-day needs of each company, but always bearing in mind that the main objective of these spaces is to stimulate conversation between workers without any architectural obstacles.
Advantages of choosing collaborative spaces
Collaborative spaces have arrived as an innovative alternative that offers hundreds of new opportunities and advantages in the society in which we live, requiring speed amongst a world of excess of information, and where it is increasingly difficult to get a team to dedicate sufficient time to developing a project.
That is why at Viccarbe we have opted for the design of collaborative spaces: to offer the possibility of stopping, sharing, communicating and transmitting; so that a team can develop its work all together, creating a space where everyone’s opinions matter. In addition,, this type of setting has a very positive impact on the companies that opt for it:
Increased creativity
Thanks to this new space layout, employees from different departments of the company have the possibility to share their experiences and points of view, encouraging ideas, brainstorming and creativity.
Sense of community
Being separated by walls and isolated from other colleagues can lead to a loss of motivation at work. In contrast, thanks to collaborative spaces, workers are in constant contact with their colleagues, which brings values of unity and commitment and fosters a sense of community and belonging.
Development of productivity
The aforementioned advantages mean that the different employees of companies are increasingly more productive in their jobs, so we can affirm, without a doubt, that collaborative spaces help to increase the productivity of workers.
Which collaborative workspace furniture to choose for your project
Choosing the right furniture for a project is not an easy task. Interior design softwares help us to get an idea of what we want and how we want it, but it is not easy. The concept of collaborative space is relatively new; for this reason we have made a selection of Viccarbe’s best sellers designed for this type of space:
Trestle Table and Last Minute Stool
The Trestle Table was designed in collaboration with British architect John Pawson, while the Last Minute Stool is the joint-venture with Patricia Urquiola. On the one hand, the Trestle Table, with wooden legs, allows the creation of infinite compositions, which benefits companies that need to work as a teamin order to present their projects, as well as for workshop sessions. It is also featured by its very large dimensions, as well as being a very resistant piece, with fine and elegant lines. Its invisible electrification options make Trestle the perfect solution for open work environments, achieving a minimalist but very functional design.
On the other hand, the Last Minute Stool is a great addition to the new office concept. This stool is distinguished by its different available sizes: the high desk version is suitable for lounging rooms; the medium version is used in open work rooms; and the smaller version is suitable as a back up to support unplanned meetings at employee desks. The combination of these two pieces allow us to achieve the desired effect of spaciousness and communication.
Also find out what collaborative chairs are and how they can help you create a collaborative office and an open and friendly environment.
