Portland Office Design Accommodates Employees’ Work Styles

Via worldarchitecturenews.com
Designers: Airbnb, Aaron Taylor, Rachael Yu
All photos: Jeremy Bittermann via worldarchitecturenews.com

For those who like to work from a sofa, in a dark space, bathed in light, or just prefer to change rooms for increased motivation, the Airbnb office in Portland looks like a dream workspace. The office is the creation of an in-house team, including lead designers Aaron Taylor and Rachael Yu of Myriad Harbor, and the process involved 50 members of the Portland’s Customer Experience team.

And this was no typical process. The lead designers sought the insight of the Portland employees and used their suggestions about their ideal workspace. They considered their individual work styles and preferences and tried to incorporate a bit of local flavor into the design. Even more, team members contributed to the office design by making furniture or accent pieces, such as chandeliers, tables or artwork.

The result is an office that has a bit of everything. Different areas accommodate different working styles, from lounge sitting to standing, including the option of traditional desks.

But the traditional desk is far from being the rule here, and so are individual areas. In fact, most parts of the office belong to all the team members. Employees can choose to work in areas where the placement of the furniture creates a space full of light, if they are motivated by such environments. In other areas, darker materials such as wood, fabric and felt create a darker, more intimate space, for those who rather find their energy away from light.

With areas where employees can interact with each other and others where solitude and concentration are respected, the Portland Airbnb office is a smart way of accommodating employees work styles and make work both pleasant and efficient.

Please take a look at our Before and After images of selected projects from 2015 HERE.

If you are thinking to open up a new business or in a process of rebranding and remodeling your existing business, contact us to get a free consultation from Mindful Design Consulting. Click HERE to price your project design.

Also, take a look at “Branding By Interior” e-book, the only book written on this subject at this time. It brings insight on how you can turn your business into a market-dominating competitor by using human cognitive responses.