Acoustic solutions can make a difference for productivity and wellbeing in offices

Shh! We’re designing offices for wellbeing

Do you want to make your next office design sound as good as it looks? Open plan offices, polished concrete floors and exposed ceilings are driving a growing need for acoustic improvements. Then we have the solution for you.

We share insights on how our acoustic ceiling designs help people to create, concentrate and collaborate, while improving productivity and wellbeing at work.

But what trends are shaping the design of offices today?

Flexibility

The offices are moving towards a more open landscape and therefore flexibility is going to be the core where workplaces need to be agile and able to adjust to the day-to-day work styles. They need to accommodate new office concepts without massive renovations.

Our acoustic solutions are integrable and harmonise with the interior to give a holistic design. You have the freedom to choose in multiple formats, edges and colours that futureproof the office space and people feel comfortable.

Wellbeing

It's the new buzzword, and people are acutely aware of their surroundings and the effect it has on them. Wellbeing is already a central tenet of office design, but the attention will continue to grow in the future where employees better will understand what they need to work at their best. The attention will be on designing spaces to make people feel, improve their concentration level, productivity, acoustics, speech intelligibility, privacy and mental health.

Wellbeing sits at the hearth of everything we do. Our acoustic solutions promote comfort, wellbeing and productivity by reducing noise and reverberation in any office type. They provide the ability for people to work, concentrate and collaborate without being distracted.

Safety built-in

Safety is going is to be a core principle for offices of the future. Extended scrutiny will be focused on building materials and their safety, not only for the people installing them but equally for people that will live in them. The safety also covers fire resistance, particle emissions and cleanability.

Sources from natural stone, our solutions are sanitary, and repel mould and bacteria. They’re durable, resisting fire, impact and dirt, where they’ve been awarded with the best-in-class indoor climate labels making it easier to keep healthy buildings for happier occupants.

Building green

The future will become greener, and that counts for offices too. Sustainability will continue to occupy centre stage however, there will be a sharper spotlight on product durability and contributing to a circular economy.

Stone wool is the sustainable construction material choice and your contribution to the circular economy. Our products are durable and lasts until they’re recycled to make more. We’re continuously working to reduce our carbon footprint across our supply chain, and our acoustic solutions are fully close looped, where nothing gets wasted.

How to design for different spaces in an office

Designing a great office space means empowering workers to create, concentrate and collaborate. It means to consider the different functions, needs, and working methods that are present and that’s no easy work. A starting point is to invite acoustics into the design, and we’ve got you covered there.

Make a great first impression

Reception area

The reception area is the first focal point of the office space where a lot of traffic is passing welcoming guests and guide them. The architectural design sets the tone for the company and the brand.

A great reception design focuses on acoustic comfort, elegance, durability, and simplicity. Overall, it capitalises on comfort, natural daylight and acoustic elegance.

Generally, the reception is filled with hard surfaces such as glass, concentrate and stone. It causes sound to reverberate creating a noisy and unpleasant experience.

Creating a good experience from the moment your customers enter an office will leave them with positive emotions, and by adding a splash of corporate colours, ensuring comfortable indoor climate with natural daylight and high sound absorption helps the reception to act as a welcoming hand.

Acoustic design advice

Three suggestions for creating a great acoustic environment in the reception areas.
1. Use high-quality sound-absorbing materials to ensure speech clarity and reduce echoing.
2. Use Biophilic design and bring in plants and vertical gardens to break up the space and soften the echoes.
3. Use soft tiles and use fabric-base

We recommend our Rockfon ® Mono® Acoustic as it gives a unique design solution with its innovative monolithic surfaces as well as it delivers outstanding acoustic comfort avoiding sound to echoing it as well reduces the need for artificial light due to its high light reflection and light diffusion.

Rockfon Blanka® offers you the best acoustic properties to ensure a comfortable noise level. Its super white surface helps you to exploit on natural light and draw it further into the space.

Rockfon Color-all® gives you the design freedom to invite 34 exclusive and inspiring colours into your design. It enhances your acoustic comfort and your interior design scheme with a touch of personality.

Design improves concentration

Corridor and breakout area design solutions

Corridors have a high level of footfall and they often become spaces for improvised meetings and conversations that can be distracting for colleagues. They’re used for navigation to offices and if the noise is not controlled, the sound travels throughout the building, and it can lead to employees losing concentration. To properly control noise, it’s important to consider excellent acoustics as well as behavioural and zoning techniques. This combination can help to reduce agitation caused by conversational talk while fostering collaboration and communication.

Acoustic design advice
1. Using high-quality sound-absorbing material on the ceiling and walls, you can create a layout strategy that will improve concentration without interrupting spontaneous conversation.
2. Have sound barriers separating the hallways from the other working areas.
3. White noise can help blur out the conversations that are going on, making it easier to concentrate.

Below you find some products, we recommend creating the perfect acoustic harmony in the corridors.

Rockfon Blanka® comes in a wide variety of dimensions and edges to complement every space. Not only is it our whitest and brightest tile, but it also gives you the best-in-class acoustics. Rockfon® Tropic™ is our all-round tile with Class A sound absorption and a smooth white surface. It’s available in a selection of standard edges and dimensions making it a popular and affordable choice.

An inspirational and motivating place to work

Open plan office design solutions

Using the office to promote wellbeing is becoming a standard practice with good acoustics being a key part. An open plan office is designed with the overall purpose of facilitating collaboration and inspiring group interactions, but it also calls for struggles on concentrating where proper sound absorption and sound insulation is key elements to ensure spaces are fit for purpose.

For best sound management, it’s essential to understand how sound behaves and travels within a certain space and its impact on employee productivity and wellbeing.

Acoustic design advice.
1. Ensure that you have thick and dense sound-absorbing materials on the ceilings to ensure speech clarity especially in the low frequencies.
2. Use high-quality sound-absorbing materials on the walls.
3. Have soft material on the floors to counteract impact sounds

Perfect for offices, we recommend Rockfon® Universal™ Baffle, Rockfon Eclipse® wall panel, Rockfon Eclipse® island and Rockfon Blanka® Activity. Common for all of them are its excellent sound absorption and its aesthetic finish complementing the interior design.

A proper communication space

Meeting room design solutions

Meeting rooms are key spaces for the interchanging of ideas, but to be able to engage, it is important to be able to hear what is said. Avoiding echo from sound bouncing of the walls is important as well as ensuring speech clarity and good sound insulation.

Promoting collaboration and exchanging of ideas, the environment needs to be sound-proof so everybody is able to hear properly. And noise in meeting rooms easily reverberate off hard surfaces so proper sound absorption and sound insulation is vital.

Acoustic design ideas:

Three things you can do to improve the acoustic environment in meeting rooms.
1. Ensure that you have thick and dense sound-absorbing and sound insulating materials on the ceilings to avoid sound from leaving the room.
2. Use high-quality sound-absorbing materials on the walls to avoid echoing.
3. Have soft material on the floors to improve sound absorption.

Get the right headspace with colour

Colour is a great way to set the tone in a room and get people in the right mood for actively sharing ideas. And why not add a splash of colour in the meeting room? It will breathe life and initiative a creative atmosphere.

We recommend our inspiring and versatile acoustic ceiling tile, Rockfon Color-all® - it gives you the freedom to choose from 34 exclusive colours from subtle to bold long-lasting colours. You can easily unleash your imagination with this colour palette. Our Rockfon Blanka® gives you the best acoustic properties that ensure a comfortable sound level to start concentration and collaboration and our Rockfon dB range of high absorbent acoustic tile reduces the noise transmission from room to room.

Great hygiene. Now that sounds good!

Canteen design solutions

A clean and comfortable place to eat. And then canteen is a social space for employees to chat with each other, but it can become very busy and noisy at lunchtimes. The rattle of knives, forks, plates and glasses hitting the table combined with group conversations can cause noise levels to quickly escalate to an uncomfortable space.

It requires a thoughtful acoustic design that solve the acoustic challenge and manage to be durable enough for regular cleaning.

Acoustic design ideas

Three things you can do to improve the acoustic environment in the canteen.
1. Use sound-absorbing solutions that meet the most rigorous hygiene codes and safety regulations and that are resistant to mould and bacteria.
2. Use highly sound-absorbing ceilings and wall solutions to control the noise levels.
3. Play with the design of the ceiling and walls to create a warm and inviting atmosphere in this large space.

Despite it being a canteen, it shouldn’t look dull. We recommend our Rockfon Eclipse®. It’s our beautiful, frameless acoustic island that comes in a variety of geometric shapes. They’re perfect for improving sound absorption while giving a fun or aesthetic design. Rockfon Blanka® is our brightest ceiling tile that has the best acoustic properties while capitalising on natural light for a comfortable space. 

The right product in the right space

People can’t work and be productive if they can’t concentrate. Wellbeing is a central tenet of the workspace, and to promote a strong indoor climate, you need great acoustics as much as you need a stunning design. Please have a look at our overview to see what products we recommend for the perfect combination of style and acoustic comfort.

For more information about us , kindly visit en.rockfon.international