by katie George
With the advent of ever increasing cost for commercial real estate, companies seeking to reduce or minimize overhead have had to try to efficiently accommodate their employees in smaller work places. The architectural solution is the open office. When open office furniture was introduced in the 1960’s, buildings were generally designed and constructed differently. Much of the average office facility was laid out with a series of walled, widowed offices, interior conferencing areas and strings of long connecting, corridors. Smaller, open administrative bullpen areas were filled with desks back to back, giving workers little “working” space and no privacy. The design became too expensive and was resistant to change. Open office furniture became the conduit for new building design.
When many of the exterior private offices were removed, office space opened up adding additional precious square footage that could more effectively accommodate growing numbers of employees. One critical aspect of open office furniture is that makes efficient use of vertical space, thereby fulfilling employees’ task needs, allowing privacy while occupying a smaller footprint. By putting books, manuals, files and personal effects above the work surface, businesses are able to save valuable floor space and put more people in a smaller area. And because of the proximity of shelves to desks, paperwork and other materials were easily accessible, and not filed away in bulky, space consuming cabinets or on remote bookshelves. Open office furniture gave companies a financially sound solution and a larger return on investment.
MAiSPACE understands the thought process behind companies desire to buy space saving open office furniture, but sometimes forego important features to save money. MAiSPACE saves companies money by providing quality, low cost open office furniture with all the options that make the workstation attractive and the worker productive while increasing floor space efficiency. Special features like off-modular capabilities, stacking and de-stacking panels, with floor to ceiling capabilities and lay-in cabling, give designers and facilities managers the tools they need to make our open office furniture functional, beautiful and cost effective. Using budget friendly MAiSPACE open office furniture, gives corporations the ability to address all real estate concerns and stretch their dollar.
Another key element of open office furniture is its inherent flexibility. As companies evolve, the number of employees and the way they work frequently change. While dry wall can be altered, it’s a messy, time-consuming and expensive proposition. Open office furniture, with its easily assembled and reusable parts and pieces, is, by its very nature and design, flexible and changeable. The idea was to have open office furniture components — the partitions and the desks and shelves attached to them — modular and completely mobile, so that office workstations could be remade overnight rather than over months. MAiSPACE has taken those original open office furniture concepts and created a beautiful, stackable open office furniture system. Facility managers now have the ability to tackle the ordeal of resolving issues of change using our open office furniture with minimum downtime and minimum purchases.
Since MAiSPACE’s primary focus is on the production of high quality, low cost open office furniture, we are constantly making improvements to the look, design and performance of our products. Thinking outside the “open office furniture” box, MAiSPACE’s design incorporates flexibility and function to allow workspaces to look attractive while being completely efficient. The ability to stack and de-stack panel frames provides staggered wall heights and enhances the office workstation layout. MAiSPACE designs are far removed from Scott Adam’s “Dilbert” looking monolithic open office workstation. Open office furniture or “cubicles” evokes images of a maze of regimented boxes and sterile, uniform impersonal workspace. MAiSPACE, on the other hand, allows companies to create a visually appealing footprint while targeting the needs of their employees, making them productive and comfortable. With over 15 tile options, including three types of glass, on 3 ” thick panels, MAiSPACE promotes visibility and privacy, simultaneously. You can get the architectural feel of substantial open office furniture, without feeling “boxed in.”
Another important advantage of open office furniture over conventional furniture was the ability to make the workstation ergonomically correct. The open office furniture produced by MAiSPACE is flexible and adjustable to meet individual preferences. The user creates a comfortable environment by determining the optimal placement of panel-hung components, adjustable at 1 inch increments; having flexible non-handed orientation for the workstation; and curvilinear work surfaces with cascade edges. Keyboard trays and tool rail tiles allow for easy access to work tool. Incorporating the effectiveness and well-being aspects of ergonomics into systems furniture purchases can produce cost benefits in terms of significant reduction of workmen’s compensation, insurance expenditures and absenteeism. Our open office furniture also features tackable acoustic tiles, work tool rails, white boards and non-handed components with off-modular capabilities, which allow workers to be both productive and express their individual identities. Open office furniture becomes warm and cozy, comfortable workspaces.
When building design changed to include large open areas devoid of easy access to wall cavities or power supplies, electrical and power issues needed to be addressed. MAiSPACE open office furniture revolutionized the contract furniture industry by developing and patenting a standards compliant plug-and-play cable management system in our stackable panel system. Our patented zone distribution system incorporated into our open office furniture includes plug-and-play connectors, lay-in cabling and the largest capacity in the industry. It not only supports any network or system you have today, but is one of the only open office furniture products actually designed to grow and change as you do with remarkable ease. Managing voice, data, and power cabling is a snap with MAiSPACE open office furniture because cable runs are laid in behind lift-off panel segments, not bundled and fished through structural elements. MAiSPACE modular furniture cabling can also save money on the initial installation since it’s installed by lower cost furniture installers. The cable installers need only do the connections at the end of the “runs” and the customer can be up and running.
Open office furniture is here to stay. For those who know that open office furniture really is the right solution for their building, their corporate culture and the space, they can be assured that by using MAiSPACE their financial goals can be met beautifully. You no longer have to choose between function, frugality and fabulous. MAiSPACE will provide a professional in-house design team to produce the best and most cost effective open office furniture layout, not only to satisfy your current staffing demands, but also to help you plan ahead. Our designers understand all your facility issues and employ the most appropriate open office furniture product applications. You can bring style, design and function to your corporate workspace with the quality of MAiSPACE’s beautifully designed, budget friendly open office furniture.
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