These 5 trends will dominate office design in 2020.

The rise of mobile work, remote work, telecommuting, and home office is unstoppable and inevitable. By now, „Millennials“ are the largest workforce in many parts of the world. The disruptive members of Generation Z are following suit. It’s no secret that these demographic groups tend to love flexibility, prioritize sustainability, and have an evolving attitude toward work-life balance.

With the combination of demographic change and rising technologies, work culture worldwide is experiencing a revolution. The diverse reflections of these changes can be seen in the office design trends of 2020.

For 2020 and beyond, we expect five of the following trends to take the world of office design by storm.

Greater Sense of Community

For employees in 2020, an office is no longer just a place to do work for a paycheck. Especially when it’s possible to do many tasks remotely, the significance of an office becomes a supportive environment where you can connect with great minds to spark debates.

Therefore, a greater sense of community and an environment that inspires collaboration is a dominant theme in office design in 2020. Inviting and cozy meeting rooms, which are more typical of stylish hotels or restaurants, are becoming increasingly visible.

Sustainable Office Design and Back to Nature

As the global debate about sustainability is louder than ever, the office design trends of 2020 are also reflecting it. Many companies are already taking advantage of energy-efficient and smart buildings. However, as greener design promotes employee health, well-being, and morale, more and more are turning to biophilic design solutions such as vertical gardens, nature-inspired floors, or living plants.

Likewise, offices will feature more details such as vegan, organic, or recycled fabrics, as well as natural wood and stone elements.

When open-plan offices began to replace cubicles at the beginning of this century, they were welcomed by many as a solution to increase productivity and collaboration. However, current studies show that open-plan offices are not suitable for everyone.

If neither cubicles nor open layouts work for employees, more and more companies are favoring a hybrid design to let their employees decide.

Diverse seating options such as private corners, standing desks, or café-style high tables in 2020 will allow employees to find the ideal setting in which they can thrive.

Informal Non-Work Zones in Office Design

Research shows that younger generations strongly identify with their work. Since work and professional success are top priorities, they want to create a lifestyle with seamless integration of work and life instead of a rigid 9-to-5 schedule. This is driving the demand for more informality in the workplace.

Technology giants like Google and Facebook popularized the concept of “adult playgrounds” on their campuses. While it is unlikely that this will remain the case for most companies, in 2020 there will continue to be informal zones outside of work, equipped with table tennis, pool tables, musical instruments, or board games.

Flexible and Secure Access

In 2020, there will be 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide, optimizing and further developing work cultures.

As work-life integration replaces rigid schedules, more and more offices are embracing the idea of flexible and personalized access for their employees.

New access solutions allow employees to enter their office safely and efficiently with their mobile phones. This eliminates the hassle of carrying keys or key cards and the need for a 24-hour staffed reception.

In 2020 and beyond, more and more companies will meet their employees’ needs for comfort and flexibility by using mobile access solutions.