Office landscaping involves creating aesthetically pleasing interior solutions for corporate offices, including furniture, plants, natural light, and artwork. The concept was introduced by German designers after WWII to create more open and accessible office space layouts. It also applies to outdoor landscaping around office buildings. Interior designers and landscape architects use the term to describe their work in creating appealing office environments.
The term “office landscaping” most frequently refers to an interior design concept focused on creating aesthetically pleasing interior solutions for corporate offices. In practice, the office landscape involves the placement of furniture and desks, particularly in open plan office environments. It also often involves selecting and placing plants, creatively using natural light, and using artwork to create ambiance. Sometimes, the term also applies to outdoor landscaping, which focuses on creating attractive and sustainable outdoor gardens, parks, and green spaces around office buildings.
The office landscape was first introduced as a way to enhance the ambiance of work spaces by a team of German designers shortly after WWII. Traditionally, European-style offices, which for a time also included offices in most of the United States and Canada, consisted of two essential parts: enclosed offices for managers and executives, and rows and rows of workbenches for regular workers. . The concept, called bürolandschaft in the original German, pioneered the introduction of new, more open and accessible office space layout designs.
Much of the beautification of the first offices involved moving most of the staff to the common areas. The desks were not arranged in uniform rows, but in a looser system of clusters and sections. Designers pioneered the use of suspended panel systems to create privacy and divide sections without blocking light or enclosing people like walls would. Many design teams have found that a horizontal office layout promotes communication, collaboration, and teamwork among employees.
The original concepts of bürolandschaft still permeate the practice today. Many office space planning teams also look for ways to make office layouts aesthetic, which was not a primary motivation in the beginning. Elements such as purpose-designed lighting, stylish or modern furniture, and seamless accessibility to technology are among the prime goals of 21st century corporate interior designing activities.
Increasingly, the term is also being used by landscape architects to describe the physical landscape of company grounds. Landscape architects work by designing the outward appearance of many corporate office parks and executive campuses. They choose plants, create walkways or recreation areas, and design aesthetic features such as fountains or rock walls on the land immediately surrounding an office building.
Interior designers may also occasionally call themselves office landscape architects. The practice of interior landscape design is dedicated to the strategic placement and appeal of plants and greenery indoors. The decorative trees in building lobbies, for example, or the potted plants and shrubs in corporate corridors, are usually the work of interior designers.
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