Wellness Applications In Interiors.
Wellness in Commercial Interiors
The current increased investment in our emotional and physical wellbeing is apparent now more than ever. This trend sees a range of commercial spaces starting to incorporate a range of comfort features through texture and colour aspects. With an understanding that the atmosphere of our environment interlinks with our general health, more people are now seeking spaces that promote activity, healing and resting restoratively. Wellness can be introduced into the interiors of a space from the ground up from floor coverings all the way through to soft furnishings, there are many ways in which you can update the look and feel of a space to entice wellness.
Wellness Application in the Workplace
This increasing trend of implementing wellness inspired features into commercial spaces is especially applicable within the workplace segment where a shift towards hotelisation has been evident. Hotelisation sees workspaces combining the comforts of home with adaptable spaces that cater to different working styles on demand. With this human-centric design strategy, employees can benefit from the seamless integration of their work and home life with personalised workspaces that prioritise meaningful team connections, mentorship and collaboration.
The Hotelisation Trend
Four key factors that define the hotelisation trend1.
1. Providing space as a service on demand.
Offices are now featuring a combination of flexible and traditional space options, available on demand. This gives tenants the opportunity to access different types of spaces within the building as needed, such as shared collaboration spaces or smaller focus areas.
2. Offering curated experiences.
“Hospitality-infused” building spaces now include a broad range of amenities and supporting services, including concierge, dedicated tenant lounges, bars and wellness programs within office spaces to provide a full range of amenities to employees. As part of this shift, the focus of the landlord has turned to the individual experience of employees, rather than that of the tenant.
3. Integrating wellness into building design.
Wellness considerations are informing building designs to a greater extent. Landlords are differentiating office buildings by creating spaces that incorporate biophilic features to enhance the connectivity of building occupants to the natural environment and improving the quality of indoor air, natural lighting, acoustics and thermal comfort.
4. Improve tenant engagement through technology.
Tenant engagement platforms give landlords the opportunity to gather data regarding tenant preferences, allowing them to refine their service offerings to improve tenant satisfaction. This technology has seen property services and amenities merge with building management to create customised workplace solutions.
The hotelisation of offices highlights the importance of the experience of space, not only its dimensions, but also the quality of lighting, furnishings, materials, acoustics, views and air quality. Spaces can be differentiated by further incorporating biophilic features to enhance the connectivity of occupants to the natural environment and create a sense of “place” and “community”.
References
1CBRE. “The hotelisation of office space: New approaches to future-proofing commercial portfolios.” CBRE. https://apacresearch.cbre.com/en/research-and-reports (accessed 23 January 2023).
