The Why & How of Outdoor Office Workspace Additions

Bleak surroundings. Hours under energy-sapping artificial lighting. Constant interruptions from bored/drained coworkers trying to stay conscious. It’s no surprise that 76% of workers polled in a recent survey noted they were more productive when working outside the traditional office environment. Is your company thinking outside the box? Checking off your office to-do list in a nice, sun-dappled, Wi-Fi enabled outdoor workspace makes for a productivity oasis. Here’s how you can pull it off.

Interior Courtyards

If you’re building your own office space, including an interior courtyard in your building design offers an ideal outdoor workspace solution. Highly coveted for the natural light they add to a building, interior courtyards are a great alternative to artificial lighting, which has been proven to negatively impact cortisol (stress) hormone levels. In addition to increasing worker exposure to natural light, a known stress reducer and mood booster, interior courtyard setups also provide a natural source of ventilation and circulation, reducing your carbon footprint and making it easier to heat and cool your office space. Centrally located, interior courtyards are prime real estate to congregate. Unique to other outdoor setups, they provide the outdoor experience, while still remaining contained – ideal for ensuring office security. And there are tons of ways to customize: Go lush with lots of greenery, low-care with containers, or reduce irrigation and maintenance duties with the right pairing of rocks, pebbles, and succulents.

Decks & Balconies
 
Decks make for an ideal meeting space – a setting that promotes relaxation and positive energy. However, shelter is key to keeping employees from getting burned when the expected meeting excess leads to sun excess. Easily added to offices with prime deck real estate and outdoor air rights, Arcadia adjustable pergolas make for the perfect fit. Lightweight and aluminum, they can be installed in nearly any location, providing flexible shelter for any season of the year with 170-degree and pivoting flexibility. Dial-in just the right amount of sun, shade, or shelter on demand, keeping rain from ruining your monthly review.  

Rooftop Gardens

If green office space is in short supply – raise your expectations – to the rooftop! Adding a rooftop garden can really payoff and is a great way to capitalize and improve existing real estate. Like deck and balcony additions, shelter is likewise a necessity in rooftop environs. More than a productivity-boosting outdoor oasis for staff, rooftop gardens offer a host of benefits beyond boosting worker morale, helping control heating and cooling costs and control water runoff, and bringing an amazing return-on-investment via energy savings, rebates and incentives. How hard is it to pull off a rooftop garden? From easy containers and raised bed additions, to more intensive and ecologically-diverse green roofs, there are options to add green to your rooftop space at a variety of levels. Learn how.

Living Walls

Let’s face it, some office spaces, such as those halfway up a high-rise, don’t have the luxury of outdoor or rooftop real estate. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring some of the outdoors in. Living walls  are an easy way to improve the office ambiance and provide a faux outdoor setting, especially when combined with LED lighting options in daylight/sunlight hues. Made of polystyrene and other materials, living walls are typically mounted on the interior or exterior walls of buildings, providing a wall or frame you can plug plants into to create a lush, green space nearly anywhere. Hiring a knowledgeable installer ensures plant compatibility and low-maintenance care.  

Does your office pack an outdoor productivity punch? Capitalize on your office space and boost your bottom line with the help of Denver Pergola Systems today.

This post was originally published at http://www.denverpergolas.com/the-why-how-of-outdoor-office-workspace-additions/