As a leading Vancouver brand strategy agency, we understand how critical office space is in creating an environment that fosters productivity and creativity. We recently moved into a new office space in beautiful Suter Brook Village in Port Moody.
Our goal was to find an office that would foster collaboration and innovation while also providing us with ample room to maximize productivity. It took several months of searching, but we eventually found THE ONE! With the help of Ivan Medina Quintana of Medina Living Designs, we were able to take a basic floor plan and transform it through furniture selection and art.
Why Office Space Matters & Its Influence on Work Culture
The design and layout of an office space can have a significant impact on the productivity and creativity of employees. In recent years, companies have been rethinking traditional office spaces in favour of more modern and innovative designs. According to research, office space design plays an important role in fostering innovation and creativity.
“At Sun Microsystems, the change in office space settings resulted in a perceived increase of 10% in individual productivity and 7% in team productivity. It resulted in millions of dollars in productivity gains.”
Source: The National Archives, Government of the UK.
By incorporating modern design elements and an open-office philosophy, we have transformed our workspace into a communion that fosters innovation, boosts productivity and brings creative ideas to life. Let’s check out how the new REX office is enabling us to create award-winning work.
The Reception, aka The Lounge
As soon as you enter the REX office, you will feel the welcoming presence of our reception area, aka “The Lounge”. It’s not a traditional office reception and is more a loung-ey space that welcomes people.
Our lounge is the ultimate chill-out spot! You can sink into our cozy couch (thanks, Article!), browse through books, and admire the full-wall mural. It’s the perfect place to kick back and relax.
We chose the colours of the couch and mural with intention.
Studies have shown that varying shades of blue can enhance concentration, encourage creative thinking, and promote mental clarity.
Our final decision was to go with a dark cyan hue, not only because it complemented our brand colours but because cyan is a calming and stimulating colour that is often linked with vitality, serenity, and inspiration.
By intentionally selecting colours that are known to boost concentration, creativity, and mental clarity, we hope to create an environment that helps everyone on our team perform at their best.
The Brain Station
As the name suggests, the Brain Station is where a lot of thinking and brainstorming takes place.
The Brain Station is also THE place to collaborate with colleagues and refer to ideas that were discussed in previous meetings. One of the ways we use this room is by placing giant Post-it notes on the walls during meetings to capture ideas, feedback, and action items.
“Using visual aids like post-it notes during meetings can reduce meeting times by up to 24%.” – Mindjet
Giant Post-it notes provide a tactile and visual element that can help spark new ideas and encourage innovative thinking. It also helps us stay organized and ensures that we don’t lose any important information! Safe to say, the Brain Station plays a crucial role in our team’s productivity and creativity.
The room also doubles as our workout station and features a standing desk with an under-desk Lifespan treadmill (thanks, Fitness Town). REX is committed to promoting a healthy work-life balance, and we make use of the equipment whenever we need to get our steps in after back-to-back meetings and our thoughts flowing during brand strategies.
The Meeting Room
The meeting room is a confluence point where our thoughts merge with our clients, our partners, and our team. It’s the place where ideas flow, BFOs (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) strike from nowhere and where we interface to communicate and collaborate.
Our meeting room is all set up for seamless online meetings with a screen, camera, and audio device to keep the conversation flowing. Plus, we’ve got these massive Post-it notes at arm’s reach, making it super easy to brainstorm and bounce ideas off our clients in real time. The cherry on top? A stunning marble conference table and chairs that exude a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ – you really need to be there to experience the vibe and feel the energy.
The Hot Desk Zone
Hot desking is an office arrangement in which there is no fixed desk for any employees, and they take whatever space is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. It allows for more flexible seating arrangements that work like a power move for teams with low ego and higher self-esteem.
“Hot desking removes the 40% of dead space that most companies experience daily in the workplace. 73% of employees are more satisfied with hot desking.”
Our hot desk zone is a bright, well-lit area with tall windows to let the finicky Vancouver sunshine into our office space.
It keeps our team flexible with no claims to desks and makes the space more comfortable. It is more like a living room where we sit and do our thing. This area also doubles up as a place for us to organize events, eat team lunches and get together.
The Zen Den
The Zen Den is the corner room in our office for people to tune in and zone out. This is the room our team uses if they want to focus on a task and need solitude. It doubles up as our printer and storage space and has the perfect vibe to do solitary work.
The Pantry
The pantry area is hands down one of our favourite spots in the office. Loaded with a full two-door fridge, two coffee machines, a tea kettle, a dishwasher, snacks and drinks, our pantry is our sacred zone. For coffee addicts and heavy snackers like us, there is no better place than the pantry.
Since water coolers are a thing of the past, our pantry area also functions as our watercooler zone for those #meetcute moments.
We also have an office nook near the pantry where the team can sit down, have lunch, and talk about life outside of work. This nook enables us to take breaks, re-energize and rejuvenate so that we can get back to doing great work.
Did we tell you that one of the coffee machines is a Nespresso that belts out the ooh la la of Lattes? Check it out yourself.
Long story short, we love our new office space and are grateful for our leader, Allison, who worked closely with her friend and favourite Vancouver interior designer, Ivan, from Medina Living Designs. He has received countless accolades, and many of his residential projects have been published in national interior design publications. Allison wasn’t sure at first if he’d take on a small project for a commercial layout, but we are sure glad he agreed! It helped Allison make clear and confident decisions about where to invest in the space, and that was invaluable during these recession times while keeping in mind the team’s input. We aren’t even done implementing his plan, so our space will continue to get even BETTER. (stay tuned!)
Although Allison hasn’t read the research I’m about to quote, it mirrors her distinctive management style and thinking when it comes to REX employees.
“Paying attention to the needs of the occupier and giving people and teams a degree of control over their means of organizing work are factors that appear to be positively correlated to the output and attitude of occupiers.
Source: Workplace design and productivity: are they inextricably linked?
There are loads of perks that come with having a thoughtfully designed office space (as you can tell!) The new REX office has a vibe that teams will cherish for years to come. As with everything we do at REX, no stone is left unturned in figuring out the best solution. And the REX office is a living testament to that philosophy.
We’re still on the lookout for the ultimate conference camera – any recommendations? Also, if you’re struggling with a branding or marketing hurdle, we’d love to chat and see how we can help. Don’t be shy; say hello!