5 offices around the world that are embracing home comforts

From unremarkable décor to regimented rows or banks of workstations, traditional offices tend to have a professional if sometimes slightly impersonal look and feel. Things are starting to change though. Increasingly, businesses are switching onto the potential benefits of creating more relaxed, homely spaces for their personnel to use. These offices, which blur the boundaries between work and leisure, can help to enhance morale, raise productivity and boost recruitment and retention. If you think this contemporary approach to office design could benefit your business, keep reading. Here are five workspaces from around the world that are embracing home comforts. 1. Airbnb headquarters, San Francisco At its headquarters in San Francisco, Airbnb has taken inspiration from real-life apartments to create a truly unusual office. The workspace, dubbed 999 Brannan, was developed by the company’s Environments Team in collaboration with WRNS Studio and it’s designed to make employees feel as though they are occupying homes listed on its website in various cities across the globe. Its ‘belong anywhere’ concept takes its lead from homes in places including Amsterdam, Paris, Bali and Reykjavík. Each floor is based on a city, and the theme is carried through everything from the colour scheme and materials used to the cafes. The primary work areas are divided into 16 neighbourhoods that accommodate up to 50 employees each. There’s also ‘The Castle’ made from pinewood strips that dominates the central atrium and, above this, ‘The Boat’, which offers on-demand private working space. Design touches found throughout the building include the likes of pillows, books, games and pine-clad walls. There’s also a wellness centre, yoga room and boot camp space. 2. IKEA Creative Hub, Malmö Furniture giant IKEA’s Creative Hub in Malmö, Sweden may have been created within a space previously used by a bank, but it’s now an ultra-modern, relaxed working environment. The office is split into 15 spaces, each with its own individual style. These include an atmospheric editing room finished with grey walls, a library decorated entirely in blue and a completely pink meeting space complete with walls that employees are allowed to write on. Décor features include wooden parquet flooring and decorative ceilings, and IKEA furniture is used throughout, giving the office an informal vibe. The kitchen is a statement in monochrome, showcasing white wall tiles and black cabinets, as well as stylish pendant lights. 3. Objective Subject office, New York As a design firm, you’d expect Objective Subject to have clear ideas about what it wanted from its offices - and its New York City headquarters don’t disappoint. With the help of GRT Architects, the company renovated a 19th-century building to create an informal workspace that’s designed to look more like a home than a traditional office. Split into three main areas, each painted a different colour, it has large pitched skylights that flood the office with light. It includes a kitchen area decorated in ‘millennial pink’ complete with an island unit that’s perfect for working, eating and hosting after-hour parties. The office also has a ‘nap room’ decorated in dark blue that’s intended for workers to rest or sit in. The final space, which is the largest, is painted in soft grey and thanks to its sizeable windows it has a peaceful greenhouse feel. 4. Muxin office, Shanghai Design studio Muxin looked to a book entitled The Poetics of Space by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard when coming up with the plans for its Shanghai office. Aiming to create a warm, cosy feel, it incorporated design elements such as sofas and coffee tables into its workspaces. There’s also a bar for personnel and visitors to use. The front of the office is dominated by a giant window, and the entrance is filled with rows of bamboo canes and trees. The green theme continues into the main work area. The leafy tops of the bamboo from the ground floor are used to line a corridor and workers are encouraged to spend time sitting or standing in this area, using it as a place to relax. 5. Eventbrite office, San Francisco Hammock’s might more typically be associated with tropical beaches, but e-ticketing business Eventbrite didn’t let this stop it from incorporating the furnishings into its San Francisco headquarters. Hammocks feature in a series of ‘zen-like’ rooms, where employees can go to unwind. The main work area is open plan and is designed to foster productivity and collaboration, and there are a host of smaller spaces where workers can go for group discussions. There’s also a central café and stage, as well as stadium seating areas. When people want more privacy and peace and quiet, they can retreat to separate rooms featuring low lighting and padded seating. There’s also a library decorated in muted tones and finished with dark furniture to create a tranquil area for independent study. Floor-to-ceiling windows allow natural light to flood the open plan section of the office, and they offer views across the city. The workspace also has a storage alcove that’s specifically designed for employees to leave their bikes in. Your own take on homely office design Incorporating hammocks into your workspace or painting entire rooms pink might seem like a step too far when you’re creating your own workspace, but there are bound to be pointers you can take from these innovative offices to help you create a suitable environment for your employees. From introducing comfortable and stylish breakout furniture to canteen or meeting areas, to including more greenery in your workplace, to putting a little extra personality into your colour scheme, relatively simple changes to your office design can have a big impact on morale and productivity among your staff members.