I think we can all agree that a very high percentage of meetings these days are done over video conference. This technology is the glue that enables the new hybrid workplace to function effectively.

The team and I at konnectus are working with a large global real estate company at the moment. They are developing the designs for a new flagship workplace in Sydney. The designs include a high proportion of diverse spaces for people to meet and collaborate, and nearly all are technology enabled to facilitate video conference calls.

In the early consulting and discovery phase of this project we had the opportunity to meet with representatives from different business lines. They shared their pain points about the current office and their desired requirements for the new office.

There is a significant increase in demand for small Focus Rooms that accommodate 1-2 people. The driver behind this is the increase in video conference meetings. People do not want to have these meetings out in the open office because of the disturbance to their colleagues. Also, a large meeting room is simply not necessary for every meeting.

The #1 pain point the end user representatives had with the small Focus Rooms in their existing office was poor lighting. They said they were embarrassed to turn their cameras on during video calls because of how terrible they looked. For client facing video calls this is a huge issue!

Basic office lights in these small spaces are simply not adequate. They tend to create shadows on people’s faces. A way to supplement the lighting design is by using a wall mounted lighting bar that will help to illuminate the subject’s face during a video conference call.

This image below shows an example of a lighting bar design in a small 1-2 person Focus Room.

This image below shows the contrast between a person lit with basic office ceiling lights (left) compared with adding a wall mounted lighting bar to help light the person’s face.

Like to know more about this topic or design method? We can help. Feel free to reach out.