Out with the giant conference table, in with the big screen.
The traditional layout of meeting rooms is undergoing a radical rethink as companies grapple with ways to create optimal collaboration spaces for hybrid teams.
At the newly-designed offices of the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, FCA Architects reconfigured a key boardroom to look more like a small movie theater. Multiple projection screens are intended to create a sense of parity among virtual and in-person participants; carpeting and acoustical panels are installed to improve a meeting’s sound quality; and plush seating makes marathon sessions more comfortable.
“I think this type of meeting room is going to become much more prevalent moving forward,” says John Campbell, president of the Philadelphia-based architecture firm. As technology becomes the ever-present element in business meetings, Campbell believes that sitting around a hulking table won’t be necessary. “We’re not walking into a room with piles of paper anymore,” he explains. “The table was a place to hold papers to be passed around, but now we tend to share information through digital screens.”