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Maybe you’ve taken some time over the last several weeks to do some purging or organizing in your closets, attic, or basement. It’s a topic we’re fond of, because storage isn’t just important at home. It makes a difference in your workplace environment, too.
But before we talk about storage, let’s take a holistic look at how the workspace is changing (and how these two concepts link together). There are two predominant trends taking hold when it comes to office spaces:
The days of a desk, chair, and three-drawer filing cabinet are long gone—whether you’re working at home or planning a return to the office. Regardless, you still need a safe place to store your things wherever you’re working.
Storage should be functional and feel natural; the trends in workspace layout and design don’t cater to bulky or singlepurpose storage. HON partnered with two leading design firms to introduce product lines like Fuse, Flagship, and Level storage, each ideally suited for a modern and space-conscious office design.
“We’re designing storage around how people actually use it today and making it more effective within a smaller space, which means trying to maximize every inch possible. Mounting storage to the underside of the surface allows storage to now move with height-adjustable tables, clears up floor space, and makes the storage much more accessible for sit-tostand users,” said Zach Raven, Design Lead for IDA Design.
Here are five tips to help you and your company organize the chaos of stuff in the (home or office) workplace.
It may sound cliché, but the little things matter.
“Work” in 2020 consists of more gadgets and technology than it did the last time you thought about upgrading your office storage system. Phone chargers, earbuds, personal planners, and sticky notes. Second and third screens. Without drawer organizers or storage cubes to house and organize these items, work surfaces and drawer interiors can quickly become a cluttered mess.
This is something we’ve seen in offices of all different sizes and design styles (and it’s especially true for a home office): workspaces simply aren’t equipped with personal item storage, and as a result, bags are left sitting on the floor, on the desk, or hanging on coat racks. A short personal tower or credenza makes sense in this situation.
Special consideration should also be given to higher-priority personal items, like purses and satchels, that people want close at hand—and will be less likely to store in centralized storage units that are further away and out of their line of sight.
In a traditional office setting, it’s no longer uncommon for employees to bring a change of clothes to work–whether they’re exercising before work, on their lunch breaks, or after hours. More and more, people need space to store clothing at work. While coats can be hung in community spaces, is that really where you want gym shoes and workout clothes?
Consider personal towers that incorporate wardrobe units or centralized lockers to corral personal items and keep them out of sight.
We’ve all been there and done it: the seemingly endless stack of papers on all corners of the work desk is almost unavoidable.
Because that paperwork is nearby for a reason (in most cases), we recommend solutions like layering shelves—which keep documents at the ready and visible when you need them—and personal towers with open shelves. Less clutter is always a good thing.
If you have specialized jobs and/or departments in the office that require unique tools or materials, they need a storage solution that’s both accessible and can accommodate the odds and ends. This is where Flagship modular storage is beneficial; it features integrated bins that make the best use of available vertical space and make odd-shaped items easy to transport.
“Clients are more interested in storage that’s multifunctional,” said Mary Beth Peters, Senior Project Manager for Whitney Architects. “Whereas before we might see a bank of file cabinets flanked against a corridor, now we see storage applications being implemented in the primary workspaces.
“To maximize space, clients want their storage to work harder, and that might mean incorporating seating as part of the storage or adding tops to [storage units] so that they can serve as collaboration areas.” To hear the creative teams at IDA Design and Whitney Architects share their vision for the future of storage, head to hon.com for an exclusive Q&A.
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