It doesn’t matter how much technology advances or work styles change, when we’re looking to generate the innovative spark of good teamwork, you just can’t beat getting together face-to-face.
In-person interaction provides a level of connection and communication that no virtual meeting, email trail or shared digital workspace can replicate.
And so the place of meeting rooms at the beating heart of office collaboration is unchanged.
What has changed though, certainly over the last five years, is how we design them.
Futureproof Meeting Spaces
Once (luckily before Design Tonic’s time), many meeting rooms were mundane spaces where function stomped form into the ground.
Forget considered comfort and inspirational elements, it was enough to allocate a room and pop in a table, chairs, sideboard and screen.
No more.
In today’s commercial interior design world, office meeting spaces are varied and multifunctional, designed to spark creativity, foster collaboration and nurture relationships between internal staff, and with external clients and suppliers.
These are spaces for cohesion, brainstorming, dynamic discussion.
They can be informal and open, for smaller team gatherings; or more formal and structured, for professional presentations, decision-making, strategic get-togethers and sensitive conversations.
But how do you go about designing the perfect meeting spaces for your office environment?
Join us as we share some top tips from the Design Tonic Playbook…
Give your Meeting Spaces purpose…
When you begin to plan out your meeting spaces, the first thing to consider is the purpose/s they’ll need to serve.
How do you, your staff and your clients and other stakeholders work best together?
And how many different types of collaborative space do you need to facilitate that?
It may well be that, in addition to a formal, boardroom-type space, you also need to incorporate a few different kinds of informal meeting areas too, from open booths (like those at IncSpaces, above) for looser, more creative work to smaller, private rooms perfect for focus.
If you’re tight on space, look to encourage interaction and adaptability.
Ditch the traditional, rigid boardroom setup and opt for flexible furniture arrangements that can be easily reconfigured to suit various meeting formats, creating a dynamic environment that supports a range of tasks.
How? Think versatile, movable furniture, like modular tables and chairs that adapt the space as you need.
And a further benefit of this kind of flexibility is that it encourages participants to feel more engaged and promotes a sense of ownership over the space, contributing to a more collaborative atmosphere.
Design Tonic X The Property Buying Co
Give your meeting spaces personality…
Forget bland; it's not in the DesignTonic vocabulary anyway.
Our whole team thrives on creating inspiring, out-of-this-world spaces that go beyond the ordinary, and that applies to every corner of your workspace, from the boardroom to collaboration areas and beyond.
When it comes to meeting spaces, it’s key to maintain engagement, encourage inspiration and stave off boredom.
So adding plenty of personality is high up on our lists for any transformation - from splashes of colour and inspiring artworks to bags of brand DNA for a recognisable and reinforcing experience for attendees from inside and outside your organisation.
Design Tonic Digital Agency Project
The best place to start is with a smart scheme.
Colour immediately sets the tone for any space, so choose your tones to reflect your company’s identity and ethos - from vibrant and punchy for lively contemporary workspaces to calm neutrals for a more classic and controlled vibe.
Decorative elements are a brilliant layer for your look, bringing plenty of potential for added visual interest that ignites creativity and keeps those neurons firing at top speed.
And there are endless features you can choose from - from artwork and decals that add pattern and pops of colour to statement lighting and bespoke furniture.
Some of our favourite boardroom projects see our skilled team custom-craft fabulous, contemporary media storage - like the beautifully minimal tech wall above.
With a luxe, on-trend and tactile timber finish in a deep industrial grey, this piece provides clever storage and smart wire management for this digital agency, adding a wonderful touch of drama to the space all the while.
And let’s not forget the greenery!
Our passion for biophilia is no secret, and we love incorporating it into meeting spaces just as we do the office at large - and with very good reason!
With proven wellness benefits for all spaces, not just workspaces, introducing plenty of planting into your commercial interior scheme brings nature’s calming and focus-boosting effects into your main meeting rooms.
Surrounded by greenery, minds remain calm, moods remain high, creativity fires and focus receives a natural boost.
And it just looks great - we mean, check out the stunning meeting space at Mackenzie Stuart*, with its bespoke ceiling light draped with lush greenery (below).
What’s not to like?
Design Tonic X Mackenzie Stuart
Give your meeting spaces function…
With many of us facilitating hybrid workforces, tech is a cornerstone of collaborating effectively - and, given your meeting spaces are designed for collaboration within and without, it’s key to afford these zones enough thought and budget to equip them properly.
Think about:
- What tech do your staff use, or need, to enable them to collaborate at peak efficiency?
- How can it be best built into your design so it can be seen by everyone?
- Do you need to commission something bespoke, like the media units our skilled team handcrafted for IncSpaces and Mackenzie Stuart (above)?
- How do you keep it all looking great - hiding wires, making it all accessible, smoothing its use for everyone?
- What additional storage do you need to keep tech bits and bobs out of sight but within easy reach?
Design Tonic X White Rose Education
Give your meeting spaces comfort…
We’ve all been there - you’re into hour 2 of the meeting and it’s so stuffy that you’d be drowsing if only your bum wasn’t so numb…
Discomfort quickly leads to distracted and unengaged meeting participants, and that’s the opposite of what you want for your company’s collaborative processes.
You want people to enjoy spending time in your meeting spaces - and so the importance of comfort elements like ergonomic furniture, excellent lighting, managed acoustics and good airflow can’t be overstated.
Invest in adjustable, ergonomic chairs in tactile fabrics and on-brand colours.
If you’ve got the luxury of choosing the placement of your meeting space, pick a spot with good natural light and, if possible, good views outside.
If not, choose glass partitions to bring natural light in from elsewhere, and get creative with decals and opaques to lend the privacy you need.
Layer your additional lighting to suit your space, mixing ambient light with task and feature lighting for wellbeing and drama.
At Goodmove, the natural light in the formal meeting space needed a bit of a boost - enter the Design Tonic team with their custom-crafting skills!
To add a boost to light flooding in through the windows and glass partitions, the team built this fabulous feature ceiling light, complete with additional acoustic properties for a hit of extra multifunction.
Airflow is just as crucial as lighting. If your windows do open, some kind of air cooling and distribution system is vital for warm summer days - as well as good heating for chilly winters.
And think carefully about the acoustic comfort of the space. In closed meeting rooms especially, you want the noise inside to stay in and the noise outside, out - and partitions alone may not be enough to achieve this.
In these situations, we find acoustic baffles and smart decorative elements like dampening lampshades are absolutely invaluable - check out the brilliant acoustic pendants we incorporated into White Rose Education’s training room (above) for the perfect example!
Want to explore what’s on offer? We love to turn to our friends at Allsfar for help here - click here to browse their wide and innovative range.
Design Tonic X Kinrise Real Estate
Dive deeper into our Perfect Meetings Playbook…
There’s a lot of thought that goes into designing a meeting space that blends form and function, sparks creativity, fosters collaboration and leaves a lasting impression of the right kind on staff and clients alike…
But luckily, our incredible team has the kind of unrivalled know-how you need to get it just right!
