Designing office interiors involves creating interior environments to meet client requirements from a particular space. Any corporate project related to interior design involves generic stages to follow while progressing in the process of designing and equipping offices. These include:
1) Programming: An office made up of different facilities such as administrative, hotel, recreational, food/canteen and each space has its own requirements and functions. During the programming stage, the interior designer must take care that the office design meets the functional requirements of each facility while understanding the user’s requirements. He must understand the functional aspect of each space, the space layout requirements, and the furniture and accessories needed in each facility. Site visits, research, surveys, or meetings with customers and users are the best methods to get a clear idea of design requirements and expectations.
2) Concept Development: After gaining a solid understanding of the client’s requirements through the collected information, the designer formulates his concept in the form of a design and diagrams. The concept development stage is made up of different sub-stages. They are:-
a) Space Planning: Space planning is an integral component of interior design services as it involves efficient use of desired space. After the programming stage is completed, space and adjacency allocation designs are prepared. When planning the effective utilization of office space, numerous factors must be considered, including organizational hierarchy, workflow, client goals and objectives, building codes, furnishing requirements, comfort, flexibility and future needs. Depending on whether the client’s office promotes teamwork or individual work, the office space is planned accordingly.
b) Light: Light is one of the most important factors to consider when designing office interiors. The designer must understand both the scientific and aesthetic aspects of light. The quality and quantity of light are also important in creating a comfortable and healthy office workplace. Light plays an important role in shaping the atmosphere of the room, and therefore an interior designer should consider lighting that not only enhances interiors and increases efficiency, but also meets building codes and create a pleasant atmosphere.
c) Color: Color is a vital element in any commercial interior design. When choosing a color scheme, the designer must ensure that the office color reflects the company’s brand, value, and culture. Since color has the power to provoke a variety of emotions and psychological states, the interior designer should consider a pleasant color combination in the office that will improve mood, concentration and create a vibrant working atmosphere.
d) Selection of materials: considering factors such as quality, product performance and sustainability, furniture and other accessories for office interiors are selected.
3) Design development: During the design development stage, the designer is very clear about the design purpose of the project. He develops floor plans, elevations, sections, and other detailed drawings while explaining the design, color, furniture, and finish selections made. This phase also involves the budget proposal for the construction and FF&E items.
4) Concept Presentation: The prepared design is presented to the client for review, review and approval. Based on customer feedback, the design is modified accordingly to meet customer requirements. After incorporating all the changes, the final design draft is prepared.
5) Construction and Procurement Documents: The construction document is critical to any successful execution of the design. It consists of final sets of documents with all the necessary specifications that will help the contractor to start building the project. In addition to including complete sets of plans, elevations, and sections, it also includes the schedule of finishes, furniture specifications, material details, etc. Once construction documents are approved, potential contractors are sent to bid. In the next step, bids are obtained, the contractor is finalized, purchase orders are issued, and the project begins.
6) Construction Management: The interior designer must supervise the work through frequent site visits. You need to verify that the work complies with the construction plans and specifications. The designer should also check for defects and errors during the installation and completion of FF&E. The construction process is complete when the interior designer is satisfied that the work has been performed as represented in the construction documents.
