Whether collaboration is successful depends on a number of factors. Rooms and furniture play an important role. They provide the creative framework that nurtures ideas, innovation and cooperation. Here, we present three examples of collaborative room concepts that break away from the traditional meeting room.
Creative and workshop space.
One real must-have when it comes to generating creative ideas? A creative and workshop space that offers staff an inspiring environment to work in. The goal here is to use creativity techniques to get innovation processes going or develop future scenarios. This works best in an informal environment. As relaxed a room design as possible and mobile furnishings wherever practical set innovative potential free. There is no ideal creative space that suits everyone; there’s a huge amount of design freedom to be had here. However, there are certain aspects that tend to support creative work. “Creative areas ooze dynamism and movement. They’re inspiring, inviting and stress-free with a flexible, relaxed, unconstrained spatial concept. One way you can create this is through the use of different levels, like couches alongside places to stand and walk around”, says Bernhard Kern, Managing Director of the office consulting firm Roomware.
To enable people to capture and assess ideas quickly and easily, creative rooms should also be kitted out with various visualisation tools such as (digital) whiteboards, flipcharts or pinboards.
Essentially, creative and workshop spaces offer a lively and versatile environment that allow shared ideas and innovations to develop.
Für das rasche und unkomplizierte Festhalten und Bewerten von Ideen sind Kreativräume zudem mit unterschiedlichen Visualisierungstools, wie (digitale) Whiteboards, Flipcharts oder Pinnwände, ausgestattet.
Fazit: Creative & Workshop Spaces bieten eine lebendige und vielseitige Umgebung, in der gemeinsame Ideen und Innovationen reifen können.
Design thinking room.
One special format for the creative sector is design thinking. It describes a structured approach to problem solving and product development. Here, complex tasks are solved by means of creative processes.
Collaborative room concepts provide a foundation that supports the various phases of the design thinking process as effectively as possible. Team members are empowered to work in an agile fashion, generating ideas, developing solutions and discussing feedback.
“The furniture in design thinking spaces comprises both static and mobile elements. To ensure content is captured in an organised way, we recommend incorporating several different visualisation tools”, continues Kern.
Where complex issues and problems need to be resolved, design thinking rooms support structured project work.
Scrum room.
Scrum is an agile project management method that is particularly widespread in the software development sector. The term comes from the sport of rugby, and refers to a dense mob of players all scrambling for the ball. In project management, it symbolises a crowd in the sense of team members closely working together in a constant state of interaction.
Unlike design thinking, scrum doesn’t involve sticking strictly to the plan. Instead, the team puts their heads together and makes a joint effort to react to problems quickly.
“In a creative business, scrum teams tend to work with very mobile furniture that they can rearrange as needed. Various visualisation aids like scrum boards enable them to capture ideas and content quickly. Multifunctional zones like working cafés and lounges are used for smaller meetings like 15-minute daily scrums”, explains Kern.
One thing’s for sure: scrum rooms push project teams and make it easier to come to decisions quickly.