The modern workplace is rapidly changing. What once was a culture of closed doors and fine lines has transformed into a territory of openness and transparency. Open office spaces, natural lighting techniques, and glass conference rooms are now ubiquitous. And while these new designs produce significant results, such as team cohesion and collaboration, they’ve also generated a few challenges.

The main challenge is privacy.

Office sizes have gotten smaller over the past decade, which is part of the reason why glass has become so popular in office interiors. With intelligent glass design, employees can inhabit a small open space without feeling like they are trapped in an enclosed environment.

When the office is open, it’s easier for employees to lean over and have a conversation about a project or a work issue. Small meeting areas encourage teams to have breakout sessions to tackle challenges and brainstorm. However, there is less of an opportunity to acquire the type of deep focus needed to collaborate on the most complicated tasks.

It’s difficult to focus when you can hear multiple people typing away at their computers or when conversations are going on all around you. In meetings, conference room glass walls and partitions can invite some distractions, causing a meeting to go off-pace.

Nonetheless, no one wants to sacrifice the gains we’ve made through open office formats and glass walls. Natural lighting is known to have a positive effect on employee happiness and productivity. Open offices reduce our tendency to section off employees into clusters. Too much sectioning can lead to poor communication and siloed teams that don’t interact.

If you’re an architect or building owner working on an office project, you may be wondering how to address this problem so you can better serve your clients. Thankfully, you’ve got options.

The Importance of Private Conference Rooms

You can create private conference rooms that don’t sacrifice the transmission of natural light or the benefits of the open office format. Using glass film, glass conference areas give you the best of both privacy and openness.

You have multiple choices in glass film when it comes to opacity, too. Optically clear film allows you to give your conference room a sense of style without reducing the openness of an office. Frosted films create more privacy without sacrificing light. Every glass film can be positioned in the way you see fit, whether you want to cover the glass entirely or place it more strategically.

Glass film is also a useful tool for small conference areas, workspaces, and sectional offices. Most office workers like the open office environment, but they crave privacy. Laptops have made us all more mobile. Small work areas, sectioned off with glass, allow office workers to create a private environment when they absolutely need it.

Your client may want to designate different conference rooms for different purposes. Conference rooms where high-level executives meet may require more privacy. However, frequently used conference rooms for other employees may be designed for comfort and collaboration. Regardless, there is a wide range of films to choose from, including textured films, semi-transparent films, and films in multiple colors.