Stale air. Outdated lighting that’s a little too light. Stuffy, tired workspaces that used to be inspiring. Every office needs a makeover now and then, and that can mean a perfect chance not only to refresh the office experience and renew employee engagement — but also to re-green. Yes, re-green: after all, sustainability features have come a long way, too. Overwhelming evidence tells us that green office space is not only a win for the planet and your bottom line (think: energy savings), but also offers important employee health and wellness benefits.

Via workdesign.com >

The open office trend is growing in popularity worldwide. However, huge numbers of workplaces still have private offices.

If you’ve got a private office, chances are you spend the majority of your head-down work time in isolation, without the social or collaborative benefits offered by an open office. This makes it even more important to design your office specifically to address common workplace health and wellness concerns (both physical and emotional).

Via blog.millikencarpet.com >

Workers in open-plan offices are more distracted, unfriendly and uncollaborative than those in traditional workplaces, according to the latest industry survey.

Employees who have to share their office with more than two people experience high levels of colleague distrust and form fewer co-worker friendships than those working in single-occupancy offices, according to the new report from Auckland University of Technology.

Via dezeen.com >

Once upon a time, cutting-edge office spaces consisted of restrictive cubicle walls that hindered communication. Since then, the trends of workplace design have veered from one extreme to another: designers have been creating open plan workplaces, many with acoustic problems and a debilitating lack of privacy. Design firms and manufacturers are now attempting to scale back, searching for a happy medium that allows for both spirited collaboration and private reflection. Metropolis talked to Jennifer Wammack and Mitch Bakker from Michigan-based design studio IDa about three of their recent collections of flexible office furniture designed in collaboration with Gunlocke, to hear their insights into ways of creating seamless transitions between collaborative and private spaces in office design.

Read the article on metropolismag.com >