Categories: Architectural Walls

Architectural Walls and the Importance of good office planning

Let’s say you have been tasked with reshaping your company’s office space into a more efficient, flexible and healthy environment. In the past reconfiguring was done with drywall but, because technological advances have dictated changes to your organizational structure and because these changes also mean many of your staff no longer have need of permanent, designated desks, you are now free to explore the productive potential bottled up in your space. You have seen architectural walls in place at other offices you’ve visited in recent years and think that maybe it’s time your company took the plunge.

While that may very well be the case you will need information before making a final decision and then should you decide to go ahead with a modular system, proper planning will be essential to ensure your switch to modular walls is not needlessly drawn out or troublesome.

Let’s start with some facts.

Advantages of Architectural Walls

Architectural walls justify their initial expense every time you reposition them. Imagine how much you would be paying contractors if you redesigned your office a half dozen times over the next decade using traditional methods like drywall. With architectural walls you pay once up front and after that are free to reshape your space as many times as you want or need to.
Modular walls are constructed almost exclusively from recycled materials and no landfill fodder is generated when you decide it’s time to remodel, meaning that contemporary modular walls are green technology at its best.
Architectural walls are highly flexible, easily integrated with existing modular furniture and able to provide either privacy or openness depending on your need. They reflect state of the art design and are available in a wide array of styles to integrate seamlessly with your company’s established design aesthetic.
Modular wall systems are designed to accommodate all your infrastructural needs from HVAC to power and data pathways to component mounting and integration, so there is no need for unsafe or impractical work-arounds no matter how you reconfigure them.
Modular walls are incredibly low maintenance, easy to clean and can be repositioned quickly and effectively by your own maintenance staff. And for the record, there is no need for building permits in most locations when you repurpose your modular walls.
Well-deployed modular wall systems can enable leaps in team-based productivity by encouraging communication and helping to foster good working relationships. Studies show that, in spite of appearances, most individual output is highly dependent on input from others. Organizations that recognize and encourage collaborative work enjoy a competitive advantage over those that do not.

As you can see the advantages of modular walls are many and go a long way toward explaining their increasing popularity. Add to the above list the potential to claim accelerated depreciation on your modular walls as well as tax incentives that may be available to you and you have a strong argument for choosing a modular system for your new office build-out or current office redesign.

Now that you have a better idea why so many companies are choosing demountable wall systems for their offices there are other factors specific to your situation that are crucial to achieving a satisfactory outcome and so therefore need to be taken into consideration during the planning phase of your transition to modular, such as…

Purpose – Are your modular walls going to replace your current cubicle setup? Will you be creating new private offices? How will private offices be distributed in your redesigned space? How much open space will be created and how can you take advantage of natural light in those areas?
Decor – Your brand is your company’s face. You don’t want to introduce colours or patterns into your office environment that will clash with or otherwise undercut the power of your established corporate identity. To that end modular wall systems are available in custom colours that will help integrate your office environment into your overall branding scheme.
Dimensions – Not everyone’s office space is the same nor does everyone want the same result from their office redesign. Before purchasing architectural walls for your office you should consider whether you will need components of a non-standard size and shape. Customized partitions can be easily created to fill any need you may have, but be conservative when ordering customized shapes as they may not fit into your reconfiguration needs down the line.
And speaking of the future, you also need to consider your company’s long term vision before deciding what type of architectural walls are right for you. Where do you see your company in five years, ten years? How do you see your product or service evolving? Do you have expansion plans on the table now? Are you planning to enter new markets or acquire the competition? What are the particulars of your lease situation?
Finally you may be wondering whether or not you will need to hire an architect to create actionable floor plans for the installation crew to follow. The answer is that it depends in large part on the size of your project. In most instances we can create layout drawings for you that will be more than sufficient to handle the job. In some cases however, you may require something more involved; depending on the size of your office and other particulars relative to municipal requirements and/or the age and type of your building.

All these things and more need to be carefully considered before determining the right modular wall solution for you. But if you handle the planning process as carefully as you handle other aspects of your enterprise, your transition from 20th to 21st century office will be a smooth one that pays dividends for years to come.

So call us today at 1-844-468-1468 and speak to one of our architectural walls specialists. We are here to answer your questions and help guide you through the process of making this important change. It’s a toll free call and there is no obligation.