Ceiling Design Solutions for Open and Co-Working Offices

May 8, 2018

Shared office spaces and open floor plans are intended to promote mobility, interactivity and flexibility, but at what cost to individual productivity and privacy? To truly be effective, open office and co-working office designs require thoughtful consideration to optimize acoustics for workers’ comfort and concentration

Rockfon metal ceiling solutions installed in open plan office environment to noise noise and improve productivity.

Rockfon metal ceiling system installed in open plan office.

While open office designs have been the norm for more than 60 years, co-working has taken root in the last decade within excess real estate. According to the Building Owners and Managers Association’s Jan./Feb. 2017 BOMA Magazine, “The trend of corporate co-working does not appear to be a passing fad.” Beyond the freelancers and independent contracts, co-working offices can comprise as much as 25% of corporations’ total leased space. This is especially true of the concentration-intensive tech industry.

Studies show that up to 90% of an organization’s resources are spent on its workers, while less than 10% is spent on their physical workplace. Traditional, open office designs are characterized by their large, monolithic “drop” ceiling spans since suspended grid systems were developed in the 1950s. Co-working spaces often retain the previous tenant’s ceiling systems, which may be a suspended system with old acoustic panels that have inadequate noise absorption performance or a completely exposed view of the space’s structural and mechanical workings that has almost no noise absorption capability at all.

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All offices’ ceiling designs can benefit from quick and cost-effective modern improvements and Optimized Acoustics™. By removing the old, low-performing, ceiling panels and replacing them with new, high-performance ones with a Noise Reduction Coefficient of NRC 0.90 or higher, a loud and uncomfortable space can be transformed easily into an intimate and productive place where people want to work.

Sound-absorbing, Rockfon acoustic stone wool ceiling systems mitigate unwanted noise and its negative impact on occupants in large, open office and co-working spaces. The fiber structure is engineered to trap sound, resulting in high NRC performance levels that meet today's stricter acoustics standards.

Office workers spend 62% of their time doing quiet work. Their concentration and comfort are affected directly by the noise within their surrounding environments. This, in turn, influences their accuracy, efficiency, productivity and long-term wellbeing. Even small changes in their acoustic experience may have a significant impact on their employers’ bottom lines.

To learn more about Rockfon complete ceiling solutions for open offices and other projects, please download a PDF copy of “Inspired By You: Open Plan Offices”

For product information specific to your project needs,
Email: cs@Rockfon.com. or Call us at 800-323-7164
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