These days, workplace design has seen a drift from cubicles to a much more open arrangement of work stations. The idea is that rather than having a permanent secluded space for each employee to work at their own pace, having an open area for everyone to work in would actually improve performance as it limits a person’s privacy. Therefore, partitions have seen much more action in the recent years in building of office rooms and workstations. Partitions are like moveable walls installed between the work stations so as to separate an area of a room from the rest of the area on demand. With a partition, you have conditional privacy which can be availed for meetings and other private work.
If you are an architect or a management professional upon who the task of arranging and designing office spaces lies, then you must have a clear idea of what kind of partitions are available and which is the most suitable for the office that you are designing. This article will help you take your pick.
By and large, there are three major types of partitions that have been proven to be suitable for office work. They are based primarily keeping the privacy of the individual worker in mind, and are effective to that end.
Half-height partitions
These partitions rise only up to half the ceiling height, as the name suggests. Their benefit lies in the fact that they are very portable and moveable, and make for a handy alternative to bulky partitions that are used to separate rooms completely. They are useful in individual workstations, for instance, if an employee is having meetings with co-workers or visitors from outside of the office. It would seclude the rest of the area with ease. There can be a variety of screens available in the partitions, including semi-transparent screens that allow those inside to see the outside but not vice versa. They are a common choice, although whether or not it is suitable for your office depends on what exactly you want.
Full-Height Partitions
Again, as the name suggests, the full height partition (also called the floor to ceiling partition) goes all the way from the floor to the roof. These are considerably bulkier than the mid height partitions but are very useful when a certain work activity calls for a quiet working environment. If you are expecting a conference call or an important meeting and would want to be not disturbed by the usual noise and hum of the workplace, then a floor to ceiling partition is what you need. A common choice is to have one or two of these partitions in the common areas of the office so that they can be pulled for important events, while the mid height partitions take care of individual employee needs.
Other than these, there are other ways of categorising moveable walls such as concertina partitions and rigid partitions. The varieties available allow you to make a customised arrangement to suit your specific office requirements.