Checking what's in store

The modern workplace is constantly changing and to meet those demands the space we use can be used more efficiently to accommodate all our needs with some clever storage ideas

3 June 2010 

Storage isn’t going away any time soon. Those fanciful predictions that by 2010 we would all be working in zero-gravity paperless orbiting workspaces have failed to materialise. Especially the bit about paperless working.

And even if the amount of paper we store is reducing, what about all the other objects we need to squirrel away in the office? With boundaries between work and leisure becoming fuzzier, what self-respecting desk doesn’t have motorcycle helmets, gym kits, swimming costumes and folding bikes jammed underneath? Employers are responding by providing more personal storage than ever.

This brings us to where all this storage can be accommodated, particularly in large open-plan workspaces. Typically the shyest member of the workplace furniture team, storage tends to be relegated to the perimeter, like a wallflower at a school disco, quietly observing the activity taking place within. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Given the right opportunities, storage can be a positively extrovert team player. It can be put to good use, doubling up as dividers to carve up space into bite-sized portions. Or as additional worksurfaces, mid-height cupboards are transformed into locations for meetings. Injecting a much-needed jolt of vibrant colour or pattern into an otherwise bland office environment is another role enthusiastically fulfilled by party animal storage.

1. Subdivide your space
Using runs of cupboards as dividing walls is nothing new. Since the dawn of the open-plan office storage has been used as a barrier between groups and departments. But this function is now being exploited in ever-more enhanced and sophisticated ways.
 Using storage to divide space makes efficient use of resources, helping to avoid specifying additional screens or partitions. Available in multiple heights, storage units can provide everything from total enclosure (full-height cupboards) to a reassuring sense of personal space (mid-height units).

2. Define teams and create a hierarchy
Using storage of different heights and configurations can create a hierarchy of spaces. Tall units might be used to demarcate departments, while mid-height cupboards can subdivide these spaces into teams. This makes storage a willing ally in the promotion of team-working and the creation of a sense of identity.
At BDO Stoy Hayward’s offices on Baker Street in London, 3Sphere specified storage units to subdivide a totally open-plan and flexible working environment into a space optimised for team working. This helped to support a change in working practices, as BDO Stoy Hayward had previously worked in cellular offices.

3. Add colour

There’s a growing trend in the use of storage to inject colour and pattern into workplace environments. Where specifiers are prepared to be bold, colour can add a whole new dimension to the office environment.

A case in point is the striking interior of BBC Scotland’s headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, where brightly-coloured cabinets provide blocks of warm colour, part of a scheme devised by artist Tony Paterson working with interior designer Graven Images. The result is a lively and highly creative workspace.

Storage units can even reflect a company’s brand identity, or provide a canvas for striking imagery or artwork. Printed vinyl film can be applied directly to cabinets and even tambour shutters can be printed with graphics or patterns.

4. Integrate less attractive elements
Storage can also be used to successfully disguise the less attractive elements of a workspace interior. When cunningly integrated into cupboard units, recycling bins can be transformed from the ugly ducklings of the workplace into elegant swans.

5. Make storage work harder
One way to make most efficient use of the workspace - saving space and stretching investment - is to treat storage as multifunctional element, acting as a backdrop for a wide range of activities. At lawyer Clifford Chance’s office low storage units featured sloped writing surfaces, while tall storage incorporated top-mounted rails to carry dry-wipe boards and artwork.
Fitting power-provided worksurfaces can transform storage clusters into highly-effective touch-down meeting points. This can even extend to leisure activities, such as installing table football machines on top of storage units.
 
6. Know when enough is enough
Needless to say, all this storage takes up space, and sometimes alternative solutions need to be found, to prevent the workspace from becoming too cluttered with cabinets.

But where do you store the files? High-density mobile systems enable vast quantities of material to be accommodated within a small footprint. Over recent years design effort has been focused on transforming the aesthetic appeal of such systems, making them suitable for the front office environment rather than just the basement archive.

This effort has concentrated not just on improved visual appearance, such as better cladding or handle treatments and more exciting use of colour, but also on the technology employed in the drive system. Toothed rubber belts have replaced noisy and dirty chains.

Personal space
One of the biggest changes in workplace design in recent years has been the growth of bench-style worksurfaces, supporting flexible working and hot desking. Based in Swindon, the Technology Strategy Board  introduced personal storage to support its flexible working practices. The  distinctive shape wraps around bench desking. By projecting above worksurface level, it helps to create a sense of personal space, which facility is enhanced by raising the lid to act as a mini-screen, fitted out as a dry-wipe or bulletin board. More than 50 per cent of TSB’s employees are freelance consultants with no requirement for a permanent desk.

John Fogarty is director of design at Bisley