Dana Foley and Brittany Oddy of Gensler explore how hospitality-inspired design transforms workplaces into comfortable, connected, and tech-enabled environments.
Hospitality Inspired
“Hotelification” is a design concept that speaks to incorporating hospitality interior design within spaces, to blur the lines between typical work environments and hotel amenities.
For workplace interior design, this requires restyling corporate work environments to enhance the employee experience by offering comfortable spaces that are coupled with food and beverage.
Since the pandemic, people are asking for flexibility and diversity in their workplace, which creates a sense of home. Key hospitality design influences include high-end experiences, such as design aesthetics, technology, comfort, and customer service, reminiscent of a curated hotel. For most people, they spend approximately 1/3 of their life at work, so why not make it a great hospitable experience?
Hospitality Shift
Many workplace environments are shifting to provide a more hospitable aesthetic to their main collaborative areas, such as Indoor/Outdoor spaces, lobbies, break areas, lounge areas, wellness areas, and collaborative meeting spaces. Organizations are looking for designs that promote better collaboration and teamwork areas that fuel innovation.
Community is driving corporate culture, and a typical workday must enhance an employee’s lifestyle. Whether in the office or working remotely, people need to feel connected to the organization and each other.
By empowering employees to work when and where they are most productive, companies can improve work-life balance and attract top talent. The key is to lure them back to the work environment.
A few examples of effective hospitality design strategies that can be integrated into the workplace include:
- Communal spaces that encourage collaboration without disrupting open office environments, blended with a balance of quiet, rejuvenating areas. areas.
- Spaces that encourage creative thinking and open conversations
- Soft seating and furnishings with a residential feel
- Furnishings that are ergonomically designed and durable
- Entertaining Spaces- Food, Beverage & Social
- Technology
- Wellness areas
- Layering Efficient, but not harsh lighting
- Providing a concierge
Plugging in
Technology is a key part of the comfort of workspaces and is carefully designed within the exterior and interior including lounges, huddle areas, and larger meeting spaces. A place to “plug in” and share Wi-Fi should be easy and seamless for the employees and visitors.
All areas should incorporate innovative technology, including high-speed Wi-Fi, interactive presentation tools, and cloud-based project management platforms, to empower employees and enhance their productivity. All amenity areas should be designed with furniture that includes power and HDMI connections so that workers can connect in all lounge areas, coffee bars, or community tables for seamless working and engaging with others.
Going from Good to Great
To better attract and keep talent in the workplace, corporations must take cues from hospitality, viewing employees as valued guests. Focusing on the employee experience is essential, and this hospitality-driven approach will need a three-part solution that considers service, space, and technology. Having employee needs met is exactly what makes a workplace go from good to great, according to a recent Gensler workplace survey, which found that simply being a functional and effective place to work is no longer enough.
The most crucial factors are feeling that the space is beautiful, welcoming, and inspires new thinking.
Our best practice recommendations incorporate a variety of activity zones, from quiet “library” areas for focused solo work to dynamic collaboration spaces. This workplace design approach creates a balanced ecosystem that supports both collaborative and solitary work modes.
Designing spaces that feel good to the five senses is important to the human brain and cues a sense of belonging and connection to a space. Providing a concierge encompasses not only a welcome to a space but a sense that an individual is valued and will be taken care of at a personal level. Hospitality design always focuses on the holistic experience of what the patron sees, smells, touches, hears, and tastes.
Food and beverage areas are important in these spaces, whether they are full-service coffee bars or self-serve beverage stations. The goal is not to provide a café, coffee shop, or lounge as a place to give people a break from work, per se; rather, giving them a space to take a break from the way they’re working in a different type of setting that might involve a food and beverage or communal experience. Entertaining amenities such as boutique dining and unique experiences such as speakeasies and social clubs provide a unique and memorable way to connect with employees and clients alike. When these spaces are conveniently next to the workplace or even affiliated with organizations this builds a greater community effect.
Back to the Office
As people go back to the office, we recognize that there are opportunities for improvement. By prioritizing human experience and drawing inspiration from hospitality-influenced design, the office can flourish as a creative place for inspiration, meaningful opportunities to connect, and frictionless experiences and technologies.
Today’s workplace needs to look and feel different, and hospitality design is at the forefront of changing the workplace into a thriving space that people are attracted to.
Humans need to live in a community and connect to others. By focusing on human experience, we can create a healthier, safer and connected future for all.
In today’s world we place greater value on in-person visceral interactions. How can design welcome and engage people who crave real, immersive and engaging experiences? How can workplace design intermix virtual, physical, and hybrid experiences to create places that improve human performance now, and in the future?
The workplace must be an “experience multiplier,” where people can have unique experiences not available anywhere else. It a center of activity where people come together to work individually and collectively to forge relationships and build company culture.
All images are courtesy of Gensler
