What Makes a Good Outdoor Office?
Last month, I shared an article from Fast Company that claimed the office of the future is outdoors. According to the piece, “In buildings across the country, new and renovated offices are being designed to include more options for workers to get away from their desks and go outside.” The article cites reasons such as access to daylight, fresh air and a competitive advantage for those actually renting the spaces out to various businesses. And it’s not only social settings that offices are moving outdoors; conference rooms and work spaces are being moved outside, too.
So what makes a good outdoor office? Here are a few aspects that could set your office’s outdoor space apart from the pack.
The Right Furnishings
Outfitting an outdoor office with furnishings is much, much different from outfitting a leisure space. In a hotel pool area or outdoor lounge space, you can add in inventive details, new designs and lots of areas where people can kick back, slouch if they want and simply ‘be.’
But an outdoor office space has to be functional, or else no one’s going to use it and bosses aren’t going to want it. That means furnishings that can hold all of an employee’s work materials. Chairs that are comfortable to sit (and work in) for long periods of time.
Just as hotels over the last decade have adjusted in-room furnishings to better suit business travelers who may need to work while on the road, those who are curating outdoor spaces for employees will need to make a shift in their thinking, to better serve the function of a space.
Vondom’s Outdoor Office
DEDON’s MBRACE - Designed by Sebastian Herkner
The Right Layout
You could have the comfiest chair and the most tabletop space for laptops and lunches in the world — but if your outdoor office space is in full sun all day long, it’s probably not going to be a coveted spot to work for eight hours. Similarly, if an employee can’t find an outlet to charge their devices in easy reach, they’re more likely to head indoors after just an hour or so.
When planning an outdoor office space, the right layout is crucial for keeping workers in their seats.
The right outdoor layout?
The Right Level of Privacy
As more and more offices add outdoor spaces that are suitable for meetings and presentations, versus simply socializing or individual work, privacy becomes a concern. As the Fast Company article points out, this is where greenery and alcoves come in handy, to create private spots where employees can still enjoy the outdoors, but also keep sensitive information under wraps, while also keeping out distractions. For even better indoor-outdoor flow, these private areas can even be created via sliding or folding walls.
Gloster’s Cradle for meetings
Can a Hybrid Option Provide a Solution?
But what about a hybrid option? Could a hybrid indoor-outdoor office be a better solution for those teams that either don’t have enough current green space to add a full-on outdoor work space or those unsure if an outdoor office space will provide value? A hybrid option might include large, sliding glass doors that could be opened in particular spaces, or a communal workspace with a retractable ceiling.
L.L. Bean’s Pop-Up Outdoor Office
What Do You Think?
It’s easy to see why employees would be on board with outdoor office spaces, even if management and architects have their concerns (not least of which is price). The outdoors have been shown to decrease stress, and outdoor office spaces are the perfect place to incorporate green building materials and sustainable greenery. And in a hiring landscape where many businesses need all the perks they can get in order to attract new talent, an outdoor office space might just be the icing on the cake.
But what do you think? Do you envision outdoor spaces as the workspaces of the future? What are the pros and cons that you can anticipate coming from outdoor office spaces like these? Does your office currently have an outdoor workspace? Drop a comment below and let me know your thoughts.
