An Exploration of the Effects of Creative Office Design Within Workplaces

Abstract

This study examines the latest phenomena of creative office design; a new concept of open-planning that focuses on boosting creative culture through the designed work environment. The effects of creative workplaces on the users within is explored, with attention to employee creativity, engagement, and levels of distraction. Does a workplace that has embraced creative office design, increase creativity resulting in a greater and more innovative system? A framework is designed to gain insights and understandings about the factors that affect creative output. This framework suggests that a creative workplace ecosystem is fabricated through three facets; social culture, tools and materials, and cognitive experiences. Four case studies are examined and discussed according to the framework, including two corporate offices, a public collaborative workspace, and the learning spaces of a University program. Findings show that the optimal workplace for fostering creativity is an environment where differing core values can be explored, without interference from each other. Values explored in this study include collaboration, chance encounters, curiosity, available tools, creative outlets, employee involvement, encouraged failure, a focus on well being, a sense of community and attainable opportunities