As people’s workdays become more flexible, their office spaces are following suit.

More companies are seeking and implementing clever ways to make offices fit the modern worker’s needs with modular design – think acoustic panels, storage units and room dividers – which allow employees to use the same space for different needs. 

For instance, easily stored seating cubes can create a small auditorium-style area that enables town halls without designating permanent space capable of hosting the entire staff. Movable shelves are doing double duty as storage and flexible partitioning for ad-hoc meeting space.

“Multi-functional spaces, and furniture that enables open-plan areas to be temporarily repurposed for meetings, gives organizations the flexibility to scale up or down according to changing occupancy and needs,” explains Guzman de Yarza Blache, JLL Head of Workplace Strategy, EMEA.

Take the Johannesburg office of global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, who after reducing their footprint by half, used efficient design tactics such as sliding, stacking doors that enable intimate rooms to expand for larger functions. Or EY’s new headquarters in Milan, which incorporates plenty of space-optimizing furniture that allows for quick shifts from conference to teamwork mode, as well as easily stacked chairs on wheels and flip-top folding tables for customizable training areas.

A desire among companies for futureproof real estate is nothing new, but the pandemic has accelerated discussions on how to rethink office spaces.

“With permanent shifts in working patterns now widely acknowledged, it’s not just location or square footage that needs careful consideration. Versatile furniture can play a starring role in reshaping the office for agility, as organizations look to transform their spaces and respond to changes in workplace culture,” says Yarza Blache.

A tall, draughtsman style table, for example, gives the option for seated or standing work, can be used for group collaboration and team huddles, or as an individual workstation for focused tasks. And if floorplans are reconfigured, or an organization moves location, multipurpose furniture is more likely to adapt to an entirely new space.