Charlie Harris When new clients visit your architecture business’ office, it’s essential to give them a great first impression by showing off your company’s design and creative skills. The main way you can do this is by ensuring your office stands out and reflects your business’ expertise. This means putting a significant amount of thought and creativity into the layout and design of your office, as well as other aspects, to impress your clients during their first visit to your premises. In this article, we’ll take you through some of the ways you can ensure your architecture business’ office stands out and impresses clients.
How to Ensure your Architecture Business’ Office Stands Out
When new clients visit your architecture business’ office, it’s essential to give them a great first impression by showing off your company’s design and creative skills.
The main way you can do this is by ensuring your office stands out and reflects your business’ expertise.
This means putting a significant amount of thought and creativity into the layout and design of your office, as well as other aspects, to impress your clients during their first visit to your premises.
In this article, we’ll take you through some of the ways you can ensure your architecture business’ office stands out and impresses clients.
Demonstrate your Creativity
Your office should essentially act as your showroom, for you to demonstrate the creativity and skills of your business and employees.
For example, if your company is known for using natural resources and biophilic architecture, it might also be a good idea to incorporate this in your office design.
Essentially, whatever style represents your business and brand best is the style you should lead with when it comes to the design of your office.
This way, you can use your office as a showroom and portfolio as such, to show clients the style of architecture you’re the experts in.
Interior Design in Your Office
As we touched on above, the first step when it comes to designing your office is deciding on which style to lead with.
Once you’ve figured this out, there are several different ways to conceptualise your office design, from using mood boards to picking out a centrepiece and basing the rest of the room on it.
Everything in your office needs to be synchronous, as you’ll know when it comes to architecture, from colours and paint to furniture and materials, and more.
Your Office Walls: Print or Paint?
One of the best places to start when you’re designing your architecture business’ office is deciding what to do with your walls.
The walls in each of your office rooms will frame the space, as well setting a tone for the rest of the room.
While some offices have prints and wallpaper, others prefer paint or natural, raw materials to draw the eye.
As with most other elements of your office design, this all depends on your company and brand identity, and the impression you want to give clients when they enter your office.
Choosing your Furniture
Furniture is one of the most important elements when it comes to the design of your architecture firm’s office.
Choosing the right furniture can be difficult, and it can either make or break the aesthetic of a room.
As with the other elements of your office’s design, your furniture has to fit the overall look of the room, whether it’s a more modern, neutral style or a natural, biophilic aesthetic.
For example, if you’re going for a minimalist style in your office, it could be a good idea to choose simple furniture which doesn’t take up too much space.
Modular Furniture and Designs
One of the things to consider in terms of your office’s layout is using modular furniture and other elements.
Especially if you have a smaller office space - or if you enjoy the idea of being able to move workstations around for collaboration and shared creativity - modular furniture could be a great option.
In addition, modular furniture can help create more of a flow in terms of your layout, as it can be configured in a range of different ways.
You can therefore rearrange your furniture to optimise your client’s journey through your office, making it smooth and easy for them.
Setting Up the Space for Collaboration
As we mentioned above, modular furniture is one of the ways you can set up your space for collaboration.
Conversely, you could also use separate rooms as collaboration spaces, with appropriate furniture to help your team gather and work together on their projects.
Collaboration rooms could prove beneficial, as it means there are two separate spaces for employees - one for working alone and one for working with others - means they can get in the right headspace depending on which room they’re in.
So, if you have enough rooms, a separate collaboration space could be a good idea in your office.
Your Office’s Reception Space
When it comes to your clients’ experience of your office, the place to start is the reception, as this will be the first space they encounter in your office.
Whether your reception area is a separate room, or if it’s integrated with the rest of your office, it’s essential to optimise this space to make a great first impression.
From marble reception desks to hardwood floors and more, there are so many statements you can make in your reception area, depending on what your company is known for and the design of the rest of your office.
Accommodating Clients
As well as making a good first impression visually, it’s just as essential to impress your clients by accommodating them properly and making them feel cared for while they’re visiting your office.
This includes a wide range of things, from providing comfortable seating in the reception area to offering refreshments and drinks while your clients wait.
When your clients feel like they’re being taken care of at your office, and when you make them feel like they’re special and valued, this leads to them being far more likely to work with you and re-engage with you afterwards.
Meeting Rooms
Another way you can improve your clients’ experience in your office is by having specific meeting rooms, to ensure that private conversations can take place in a secure and soundproofed room.
It’s essential to ensure that the furniture in your meeting rooms are as comfortable as possible, as meetings can often take multiple hours and you don’t want your client coming out feeling stiff and sore.
So, with meeting rooms which have the right furniture, you can engage in discussions which won’t be heard by the rest of your office, in a comfortable space.
Creative Areas
In your architect firm’s office, you should definitely consider having designated creative spaces or areas where your employees can go to sketch or let out their creativity in some other way.
Whether it’s somewhere employees go during breaks or if they go there to work on current projects, your creative area should be set up appropriately for people to draw and look at floorplans and other large documents.
As is the case with the collaboration rooms, having separate creative areas suits some employees who prefer to have a different zone or space for different parts of their job.
Office Plants
Finally - and this mostly applies to architecture firms with a preference for biophilia and more natural designs - office plants could be a great addition to your office.
Depending on the style of your office, there are several different varieties of office plants you can get.
As well as adding to your office’s aesthetic, office plants can also help purify the air in your space. They can remove toxins such as carbon monoxide from the air, improving your office’s overall air quality significantly.
So, there are a few reasons as to why plants could be a good idea for your architecture business’ office.
Ensuring your Architecture Business’ Office Stands Out
In this article, we’ve looked at some of the ways in which you can design, lay out and furnish your office to ensure it stands out.
We’ve also established that your office should be a reflection of your architecture business, acting as something of a portfolio or showroom of your creativity.
With all of the above in mind, you’ll be on your way to making a great first impression on clients visiting your office, as well as ensuring your employees are happy and comfortable.