This is the flex design concept behind the Thacher School. The architects specified oversized sliding doors that could open to make adjacent rooms “function nearly as one space” or be closed for quieter work areas. The design helped foster a sense of interconnection between curricula while also creating a built environment that could easily adapt to the changing needs of the students and faculty.
While a growing number of schools are now turning to flex design to create a more student-focused learning experience, its benefits aren’t limited to academic settings. For the last decade, commercial flex spaces have helped encourage creative collaboration, a sense of professional community and an adaptable work environment in offices across the country. This trend has only grown more pronounced in the past few years as it can support remote work and hybrid schedules.
Since gaining popularity, commercial flex spaces have undergone several changes to better accommodate today’s needs. Because these changes often overlap and seldom negate each other, many companies may wonder what current office flex designs will work best for them. While there’s no single answer for all applications, commercial sliding doors can support office flexibility both alone and in conjunction with other design considerations. Before diving into how they do this, it is important to understand recent reimagining of commercial flex spaces.
Defining what flex space means in today’s world
Originating with warehouses that could be compartmentalized into offices, commercial flex spaces can now accommodate as many different forms of work as possible to drive business efficiency, making these spaces a good investment in general. Since the term was coined, this concept has expanded to include a variety of means to increase efficiency, from hot desks to easily rearrangeable furniture.
Today, flex design can move beyond what is put in a space to focus on the elements within it. For example, office flex design can feature design elements that allow it to alternate between an open and collaborative space and a quiet and isolated one to facilitate concentrated solo work or remote meetings. While designers have several options for achieving a flexible office space, doors play a key role in driving occupant use, which can complicate choosing the right one for a particular space.
Because commercial sliding doors can save space and create more accessible offices while balancing connectivity and privacy, they can help designers solve multiple challenges at once, making them ideal for today’s flex design considerations.
Opening the doors to communal space
At their most foundational level, commercial sliding doors eliminate swing arcs to save space and support easily adaptable space design. When an office needs a large, open space for collaborative work, employees can slide the door open (and closed) without blocking corridors or work areas. When oversized and open, commercial sliding doors can improve workflow by allowing easy communication across the entire floor.
These doors can also be partially opened without taking up additional space when team members may only need to periodically check-in with one another throughout the day. Where beneficial to occupant use, commercial sliding doors can feature large, transparent lites so everyone in the office can maintain a level of connection even when the doors are closed.
This option also supports biophilic design by allowing more access to natural light. Biophilic design has been shown to help increase employee retention and satisfaction, which can be a challenge as the workforce shifts away from home offices back to in-office or hybrid work.
Closing the door on distractions
An open design alone does not make an office flexible. Office flex design should adapt to employees’ ever-changing needs. While open floor plans that allow freedom of movement and adequate work station spacing continue to be popular, more offices are looking to create smaller, more private areas for concentrated solo work. To help support this need, sliding doors can also be closed to create quiet work- and meeting spaces.
In the past, sliding door systems could not offer the same Noise Isolating Class (NIC) ratings as their swing counterparts. However, current sliding doors with perimeter and drop-down seals can achieve NIC ratings up to 39, meaning they can reduce exterior sounds by 39 decibels. This feature can help create distraction-free spaces so team members can fully concentrate on tasks. These seals can also allow spaces to operate as meeting rooms since they also reduce the amount of sound that escapes into common areas. Coworkers can meet together or with clients without worrying about distracting those around them or sharing potentially confidential information.
Because sliding door systems can be fitted with a wide range of glazing options, they can support flexible design by balancing privacy with connection. Frosted or switchable privacy glass can decrease potential distractions, and markable surfaces can help team members share information and solutions quickly.
Customizable design is key for flex spaces
Every space has its unique needs for incorporating flexible design. For example, the Thacher School needed large doors to help students see the connection between lessons in the classroom and the world around them. Alternatively, an office setting may need to incorporate a flexible design to improve workflow and collaborative efforts while also being able to adapt to support concentrated individual work. Because a space’s needs can vary greatly, it is important that its features can be customized to maximize a building’s potential for flex design.
AD Systems’ solutions can be tailored to meet a range of commercial flex space goals. This means a designer can work with AD Systems to create doors that support an adaptable floorplan beyond the standard commercial sliding door options.
