Six seriously cool office spaces

Every office should be tailored to the type of environment and atmosphere that a business aspires to create for its people. It should allow them to thrive both personally and professionally, and equip the business with every opportunity to succeed.

A key part of this is when people come together, for both formal and spontaneous meetings. A workplace that inspires will apply creative design and cool, yet functional furniture solutions.

1. Office Space in Town Waterloo

Delivered in partnership with Sam Kopsch Studios, this served office space at Office Space in Town in Waterloo has a Lewis Carroll-inspired theme. Throughout the whole office space there are brilliant design touches that refer to the various Lewis Carroll novels. As well as meeting rooms inspired by Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the Queen of Hearts room is decorated with over-sized playing cards to deliver a unique and visually stunning space that exudes energy.

2. Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth are dedicated to protecting the natural world and the wellbeing of everyone in it and applied this same ethos to the creation of their new workplace in Clapham. Having conducted extensive workplace consultancy with Friends of the Earth, we wanted to bring their people together in a more connected office space. The design ethos was driven by the concept of 'what if the earth was flat?', which resulted into a variety of geographical regions across their London office. Their new office design is split into rainforest spaces, covered in biophilic design, and the polar regions, where meetings and held inside an iceberg.

3. Essence Digital

At Essence Digital, Peldon Rose created a truly creative office space that placed wellbeing at the forefront of design. A workplace packed with biophilia, it features a meditation room where living moss walls help to bring employees closer to nature in a refreshing, green space. The biophilic design creates a distinct environment for both private and shared working, with its calming atmosphere and writable walls that gives meetings a fresh and vibrant edge.

4. Fetch

Innovative marketing agency Fetch required a workplace reflective of its vibrant personality. Located in Shoreditch’s Tea Building, meeting rooms are named after infamous biscuits. The office space is fitted with cool office furniture ideas including a table tennis table and astro-turf flooring. The brand’s colours and identity are interwoven throughout, with bright neon lighting and colour splashes across the space. The result is an office space that provides a window into the energetic, creative tone behind Fetch's ideas and campaigns, showing off their fun, fresh company culture.

5. MOO

The London office for online print and design company, MOO, is spread across 33,000 sq ft at 20 Farringdon Road. With 13 totally unique meeting rooms, inspired by typefaces, every meeting room design uses a visual representation of the font, bringing it to life. One of the most stylish meeting rooms, Courier, is inspired by vintage mid-century typewriter font and is filled with stunning period furniture. To complete the room’s finish, and in true 1960s, Mad Men fashion, there is even a whiskey cabinet inside.

6. Intrepid Travel

Intrepid Travel have been taking travellers around the globe for over 30 years. Creating an environment that would instil the same sense of adventure to attract the most talented people, the office at Intrepid Travel is unique and original. Split across two floors featuring cool, trendy breakout and meeting spaces, bleacher seating and oversized beanbags provide a relaxed space for all the team. It’s the perfect space to conduct both company-wide catch ups and small internal meetings. The design is matched to the stripped-back look of the property, setting the right atmosphere for the laid back, fresh approach of the talented people at the company.

Create a cool office design

What makes a cool office design?

The most integral features to any office design are the features that have been chosen with your people in mind. Conduct internal surveys to understand more about your people, to learn about the type of environment that they will be inspired to come to, and to work inside.

How can you bring your business’ identity into the workplace?

Your workplace is a physical representation of your business, your brand and your beliefs. Incorporate your brand colours, fonts and logos within the design of your workplace as well as the values that instil a shared sense of vision.

How can cool office furniture improve an employee’s workplace experience?

Sit/stand furniture and biophilic elements have become increasingly popular and can greatly impact staff wellbeing in the office. Offering a variety of working environments that cater for every type of working style is key. Collaboration stations, focused booths and high desks gives employees the chance to work in a way that suits them best.

Why should your office feature breakout spaces?

Breakout areas in the workplace allow teams to come together in an informal setting. Here, teams can rest, recharge and form connections with colleagues that build friendships, and foster moments of creativity and innovation.

How to create a sustainable workplace?

There’s nothing cooler than the ability to create a workplace that benefits both people and the planet . Employees are now much more aware of sustainability initiatives such as BREAAM and LEED, these industry standards are ways of making sure we consider sustainability and wellbeing together, rather than in isolation. To improve talent attraction and retention, it’s now becoming high on businesses' agendas to ensure their offices are not only beautifully designed and functional, but also give something back to the environment.