Workplaces for teams

Disciplines > Workplace design > Workplaces for teams

Noise | Light | Meetings and shared space | Creating community | Together and apart | See also

Workplaces that are good for teams help teams to become truly effective together.

Noise

• Storage as sound insulation. Storage, such as cupboards or a set of panel-hung shelves between groups can help to reduce noise transmission.

• Insulate the noisy. Seek to insulate sound around heavy phone users, both so they can hear their callers and so the noise they make minimally disturbs others.

• A gradient of sound, from those who make loud noises to quiet areas can be a practical part-solution to noise problems. This must, of course, be balanced with needs for such as adjacency.

• Make the noisy aware. Where people cannot see other people, they can tend to assume that they alone and consequently talk and laugh more loudly, thus creating additional disturbance.

• Phone headsets. Headsets, especially dual-ear models, can help those on the phone hear their conversation whilst there is moderate noise around them.

Light

• ‘Home-style’ standard lamps and table-top lamps provide localized focus lighting in a relaxed way.

Meetings and shared space

• Include meeting space within the team space where possible.

• Teams may elect to increase team space by reducing personal space.

• Shared space may either be in the center of a group of workstations or may be on corners (the corner in a right-angle aisle provides a smaller entrance to a more private meeting area.

Creating community

• Cluster around shared space. Many towns and villages started as a group of houses around a common green area. Everyone could see everyone else and they could meet in the shared space. The arrangement is effective at creating an ‘us’. This works well for teams too.

• Cluster of clusters. The principle of grouping around a common area is scalable. The whole office can be built with a larger shared space at the core, with teams all around.

Together and apart

• Teams need to work together. They need spaces to meet and to see and converse, as above.
• Individuals need their own space. Within teams, sometimes individuals need time to get away to have time to themselves. They also need to do quiet work away from the bustle of the team.

See also