Lounge designs for the budapest office of a multinational company

Abstract

The research examines the function, design principles, and physical features of the lounges of open-plan offices and presents them through the lounge designs of the Budapest office building of a multinational company. The design developed from the questionnaire, which was evaluated by descriptive statistical analysis and used in the concept development process. The design sought answers to the problems arising from the open-plan office design, without any changes in the workspace though. The predesign study was not limited to the lounge spaces. The project also required an analysis of the overall office design to make out the deficiencies and needs. The new lounge design provides better working conditions even with the workspaces untouched. The design aims to create dedicated spaces where activities that reduce work performance can be relocated from the office space, thus reducing the load on the space. The research aims to develop a system of criteria and planning methodology - based on the results of a workspace questionnaire - that contributes to increasing employee comfort and work efficiency. The results of the questionnaire revealed that those working in the open-plan offices were primarily disturbed by the noisy work environment, congestion and lack of private space - these factors determined the function selection and design of the lounges.