Five reasons the modern office pod works for you

Although fully aware of the benefits of light, open spaces in workplace design, when I designed my own office pod’s interior last year, I threw popular opinion out of the non-existent window. Creating a personal workspace means really knowing oneself, what makes you comfortable and perform at your best, and the dark, enclosed, cave-like environment is what works for me.

Faced with the challenge of teasing people back into the office, workplace designers must create homely, personal environments, customisable to suit employees’ individual preferences. Social, open office architecture can be retained for those who prefer it, but for those like me, with a hankering for the tranquillity of solitary confinement, single-person office pods give them what they want, while keeping them nearby. While in larger pods, small teams meeting and collaborating in enclosed spaces share higher productivity.

If you need somewhere quiet to take a quick call (everyone does it), phone booth pods like Framery O from Framery allow you to do so without others listening in, so you don’t need to escape onto the emergency stairwell.

Slightly larger single-person working pods are just big enough to enter and sit at a desk for the day, while longer-term private pods like Boss Design’s Mews Focus series have space for a few extra features, like Mews Focus’ deep desktop, shelving and pin-board.

But why keep all that privacy to yourself? Comfortable two-, four- or more-person meeting rooms help share it around so there’s no need to book the big conference room for that quick morning catchup. Taiga Concept’s Lohko Flex family, for instance, includes options to hold between eight and 18 guests comfortably, or the larger space can be used for more relaxed and informal but still private get-togethers.

There’s more to the modern workplace than just work, however. The gable-shaped Half a Hut home-like pods from Götessons might be missing a wall, but whether used for working, meeting or resting, they offer a cosy slice of home.

For effective privacy, however, pods need four walls and a door. To avoid claustrophobic feelings, most utilise a space-efficient square, bringing unused above-head space into the room-in-room itself. For those like me who enjoy the cosy, cave-dwelling experience, however, curved pods like The Meeting Pod Co.’s push attendees together slightly for conspiratorial ambience in an enclosed dome, a bit like a team huddle.

The Meeting Pod Co. pods also come in open, doorless options too, adding a feeling of informality and transparency to the office atmosphere. But while employees may feel more comfortable with others seeing in, the omission of audible privacy discourages confidential conversation.

The unsuitably-named Qube 360 from Boss Design features a circular glass wall, allowing a sliding door to open up a comparatively wide entranceway, while keeping the interior audibly private and literally transparent. On the other side of the coin, meanwhile, Bahlara Alcova pods from Faram 1957 feature a solid but acoustically porous curtained wall, allowing insiders to be heard but not seen.

Choosing just visual privacy, just audible, both or none, users of Strähle’s Kubus pod work behind the double protection of both glass wall and thick curtain. With its wooden frame and interior surfaces, Kubus has a cosy, natural feel outside and in, where the curtain becomes a soft inner wall when closed, complemented by optional felt-covered wall panels.

Hardwearing upholstery is commonplace in office pods, not just for its acoustic properties, as portrayed in Hushoffice’s HushMeet pod, with almost 360-degree fabric coverage across walls and ceiling, but also by bringing a colourful accent to its soft, welcoming personality.

Often strikingly colourful, office pods can take the role of accent furniture with their joyful aesthetics. By herding them together, however, alternative colour options give ample opportunity for simple navigation and organisation within mixed-use environments.

Silentlab’s Microoffice Quadrio range of two- to eight-person cubicles with padded interior and exterior walls, for example, can be requested wrapped in any one of the company’s extensive fabric swatches. While VANK’s Wall Box family either features walls of intriguing diamond-patterned acoustics in a variety of flavours, as well as living walls, full-length whiteboards and light boxes. Affecting space outside the pod as well as in, the walls are useful as a neighbouring meeting’s backdrop or as general office decoration.

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