How to Zone an Office: Practical Techniques
The first factor in a company’s success is the quality of its goods or services, but the representative nuances matter too: how an office looks affects the impression of partners and clients. Office zoning helps present a space in the right light and organise work as rationally as possible.
In this guide we look at how to zone an office into functional areas — social (front-office) and work and quiet ones (back-office) — and which borders to use. Practical zoning techniques will help raise productivity, improve the team’s emotional state and make a good impression on visitors.
What office zoning is
Zoning is the distribution of office space into functional areas in order to raise productivity, improve employees’ wellbeing and encourage clients and partners to make favourable decisions. An office is usually divided into two large parts — the front-office and the back-office.
Front-office: social areas
The front-office carries the representative load: this is where negotiations, client meetings and presentations take place — everything public that happens in the company. Its design is worked out carefully: corporate colours and symbolism are taken into account, and the decor and furniture emphasise the image. The front-office includes the hall, reception, meeting room and manager’s office.
- Reception. The first place a visitor enters, so it should be comfortable. Reception is a place for receiving and coordinating guests and handling correspondence; it’s usually a desk, soft waiting furniture and cabinets or hangers for outerwear. On the setup, see the article Reception Tips: How to Design the Area.
- Meeting room. This is where closed meetings and open events take place. For official negotiations it’s better to set aside a separate room with a long table, chairs and media devices, choosing transformer furniture, while non-isolated zones suit internal informal meetings. More is in the article Equipping a Meeting Room in the Office.
Back-office: work and quiet areas
The back-office is where all the company’s work processes happen: the workspace, rest areas, canteens, cloakrooms, server rooms, archives and utility rooms.
- Workspace. It is zoned by two principles. The cellular one provides isolated rooms for each department (tech department, accounting, etc.). The open one (open-space) has no stationary walls — light plastic or glass partitions are used, which saves area by avoiding extra corridors and doors.
- Rest area. Quality rest is needed for productive work, and it’s also where staff discuss work matters informally. It’s enough to fence it off with a partition, add small sofas or comfortable chairs and organise the right lighting. See this zone not as a place for idleness but as an informal meeting hall — on setting it up, read the article How to Set Up a Staff Relaxation Room.
Partitions and furniture as zone borders
The borders between zones are formed primarily by partitions and furniture. In an open space, light glass or plastic partitions separate one department from another without “stealing” area (more in the article {{link: Office Partitions: Why They’re Worth Using}}).
You can also structure the space with furniture, but it’s better to arrange it so employees have a sense of a “closed back” and a good view of the workplace. That way the borders look natural and the space stays convenient.
Office zoning with Partner Create
Thinking through functional zones is not an easy task, and it’s easy to get lost in the details. An experienced designer will take into account the area, ceiling height, number of workplaces and other features. It’s best to build in the zoning as early as the design stage and deliver it under general contracting.
The front-office is made as comfortable as possible for clients, and the back-office convenient for staff. Examples of completed offices are in the office spaces portfolio.
Office zoning in brief
- Zoning divides space into functional areas for productivity and a good impression.
- An office consists of a front-office (social areas) and a back-office (work and quiet areas).
- Front-office: hall, reception, meeting room, manager’s office — in the corporate style.
- Back-office: workspace (cellular or open-space), rest areas, server rooms, archives.
- Borders are formed by light partitions and furniture arranged for a “closed back” and a view.
- Zones are best planned with an experienced designer at the design stage.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is the distribution of office space into functional areas in order to raise productivity, improve employees’ wellbeing and encourage clients to make favourable decisions. An office is usually divided into a front-office (the social part) and a back-office (the work part).
The front-office carries the representative load — it’s the hall, reception, meeting room and manager’s office, where clients are received. The back-office is where work processes happen: the workspace, rest areas, canteens, server rooms and archives.
A workspace is zoned by the cellular or open principle. The cellular one provides isolated rooms for departments, while the open one (open-space) uses light glass or plastic partitions, which saves area by avoiding extra corridors.
The rest area is best placed at the intersection of movement flows, in a busy spot. It’s enough to fence it off with a partition, add small sofas or comfortable chairs and organise the right lighting — and treat it as an informal meeting hall.
Zone your office with Partner Create
Correct zoning means productivity, comfort and a strong impression on clients. Partner Create will think through the front- and back-office, select the zone borders and deliver the project with responsibility for the result.
Explore our work in the portfolio, read useful materials on the blog, or get in touch to discuss your project. Call +38 050 388 24 49.
We also recommend Office Partitions: Why They’re Worth Using and Reception Tips: How to Design the Area — they will help with zone borders and front-office design.