Proposal Description
This proposed interior plan centres round open space, collaboration and modern office. It integrates departments based on interaction level, while keeping central resources accessible to all departments. Proposed furniture has simple clean design with colours used to maximise the availability of light. The design proposes colours such as green/black/white/wood for nature related theme, which can also be moved to corporate/brand colours if preferred. Main flooring material is bamboo flooring with carpeting in light colours are proposed for work areas with moving furniture.
A major highlight of this layout is the ‘Tree House’. This is the central multilevel collaboration room system using a re-positioned staircase which moves from the first floor to an elevated collaboration room which again connects to the second floor, moving on to the next elevated collaboration room. This is designed using the maximum height of building, but with purposely lowered ceiling (8’) in each collaboration room to promote a cosy feeling supporting better teamwork. The ‘Tree House’ itself helps people bring out the playful personalities, supporting idea creation and thinking outside the box for bolder decision making required for staying ahead in a competitive market. The ground floor Collaboration room allows for the requirement to roll in the Samsung Flip.
All other working areas use the maximum soffit height of the ceiling using open work areas for collaborative work. Manager’s each have cubicles with mostly glass walls, promoting connectedness, but also give higher privacy for meetings/calls etc.
This proposal suggests maintaining Sales and Marketing departments on the first floor, being the departments closest to external partners/customers. The Second/Mezzanine floor entrance is through the central staircase past the first collaboration room which enters the Purchasing Department, positioned closer to Accounts Department for inter-departmental collaboration. Engineering Department is placed on the side of the building facing the Plant, with proposed wide windows, allowing better observation of operations. This is expected to support higher consideration of operational factors during product design. Production Manager is positioned closer to Engineering for better collaboration as well, but with easier access to staircase to allow visits to the Plant.
Each department accommodates the existing number of personnel while leaving space for a total of 40 in the future.
T
he CEO has an office space positioned at a corner facing the building front, allowing natural lighting to supplement other lighting. This office space will also allow for sufficient work privacy. However, access requires walking through most departments, promoting connectedness to all operations of the building, to allow better participation, support, idea sharing and being-in-the loop through natural exposure office grapevine.
The reception is separated from the office area and the large conference room accommodating up to 14 people seating is near this entrance to allow outside partners to participate without having to walk through the office.
Lighting for the office is maximized by widening existing windows as well as expanding skylights on the existing building roof to cover the office area. Work tables are simple line with the requested storage and space to accommodate 2 large screens and a CPU underneath if required. The workstations facing each other are to be separated by a simple line, custom-build glass-topped shelving which will carry foliage/plants (which can be personalised by each employee to encourage participation and reduce stress).
The library/book shelves are positioned between the lunch room and marketing area. This gives relaxing areas in the ground floor for reading/reference work, etc. A small area with easy access to the first floor unisex bathrooms is proposed for a small number of gym equipment, supporting an occasional work-out
While space is left for the lab, as the benches and storage is industry specific, there are no specific selections made in this proposal.
The Coffee bar is centrally located on the Mezzanine level, as well as the photocopier/printer area. This again promotes higher collaboration and teamwork.
Entrances to the office will be limited to the main entrance through the reception (separated by a door which can be equipped with a FOB key system and an entrance to the lunch/break room from the Plant. This will minimise dust exposure from the plant. The first floor will also maintain the bathrooms with urinals and lockers for manufacturing plant employees.
The costing for the design is based on conveniently available suppliers such as Home Depot and other suppliers who provide shipping and delivery to the location. Delivery and installation costs are also included. Other costs of interior renovation which will be carried out by local suppliers and general contractors are based on standard industry costing. The selections are made to maintain the cost within the given budget of $400,000 while creating a work environment to support future growth of the organisation as a creative unit facing future market challenges with a corporate culture of collaboration and teamwork. Further, keeping up with modern design concepts will attract better talent and support better employee retention.
