Companies often need to expand, relocate and change their internal organization. It’s not an easy process, but it’s one that can be done with class and efficiency, according to companies involved in office renovation and design work.

Industry officials say it’s all about "dynamism," "openness" and "style."

"Managers work better in well-planned offices that measure up to world standards," said Gleb Shcherbakov, marketing director of Nayada, a company that

specializes in office partitions. "Also, a stylish office is becoming an integral part of corporate culture and is the company’s ‘business card.’ The philosophy of the modern office is about openness, dynamism, energy and creativity."

Vadim Kuznetsov, commercial director at Felix, added that there are three main factors influencing the style and organization of modern offices: the director’s taste, the geographical factor — a preference for the American or the European approach -- and the company’s area of activity. Often, the director’s personal preferences are the decisive factor.

"As for the geographical factor, the American approach is about functionality, dynamism and sometimes even an aggressiveness that the company’s managers want to emphasize," Kuznetsov said. "It is characterized by sticking to a particular style in its pure form."

Meanwhile, he said, the European approach is "more democratic and mixes styles a lot more. In European-type offices, you can have urban high-tech details blending in perfectly well with, say, a classical handmade Persian carpet."

As for office organization, there are two main types, he said. The first is the system of corridors and small offices that combines a working environment with an individual psychological climate. Then there’s the open-space concept, a more democratic style, with office furniture of the same kind spread over a large area and managers’ offices behind a partition. Most companies use a mixture of the two styles. he said.

Office organization depends to a large extent on the nature of a company’s business. Bank offices, for example, are traditionally divided into two areas. The first area has separate offices for upper management. Then, there is a second, open area for the rest of the staff, with portioned space for middle management.

Felix’s Kuznetsov said that an "Old English" style is a favorite for directors’ offices in sectors such as banking and is associated with reliability and respectability.

Law firms tend to prefer individual offices, a style associated with respectable conservatism and stability.

Engineering and technical companies often have offices with a large amount of furniture but are ergonomic and compact. The open-space system with low partitions is ideal for such companies. The director’s office could ideally be designed in a high-tech style.

In the service sector, offices have to show off the company’s products, and a little extravagance is not out of place. Frequently used materials include laminate of different shades, glass and metal.

"In this sector, you can use bright colors, unusual lighting and the most innovative new design solutions," Kuznetsov said. "The main thing is to have a unity of style that doesn’t slip into just banal kitsch."

It used to be more common for design projects to put the emphasis on functionality of work space and the stylishness and prestige of the furniture, but, these days, ergonomics is playing an ever-bigger role in office design. "Premises are expensive, and so their owners have an interest in making the work that goes on there as effective as possible," Nayada’s Shcherbakov said.

The concept of an ergonomic office has only now begun to appear in Russia. "Today, an opinion exists that contemporary offices should be transparent, modular and adaptable, and this is thought to be fashionable and modern. But imagine a person who wanted to catch up with fashion – and wound up buying an uncomfortable set of clothes. He feels no comfort wearing it," said Yelena Nikologorskaya, development director at office-furniture manufacturer DOK-17. "I think that the contemporary office should be like a well-tailored suit. It should fully correspond to the corporate culture of the company, help to do business, increase the workplace efficiency of the employees and, even, motivate them."

Svetlana Marinicheva, advertising director at Felix, said that an analysis of the premises should be the first step toward redesigning office space.

"You have to decide what the future office’s purpose is, take into account the company’s activities, the specificities of the working process, the ventilation, the exits and entrances," she said. "Then you need to work out the working zones, define the volume and direction of human and information flows, and, based on these figures, calculate how close each work place will be to the others and also decide on a common area where the office equipment will be located."

Square-shaped rooms are considered best for offices, and a star-shaped configuration is seen as the most ergonomic and functional solution for the tables. Specialists say this also helps save space and leaves an area for people to walk around the tables. If the office is long and narrow, it is better to place the tables by the windows and put shelves and cupboards along windowless walls, leaving enough space for people to come past even when the cupboard doors are open.

Lighting is another important part of making an ergonomic office. The traditional solution of having light falling on the work area from the left is still considered the best. If the office has large windows, the staff can sit either facing them or with their backs to them, but, in a small office, it is better to put the tables in the center of the room and leave the space along the walls for equipment, shelves and other items.

Marinicheva said that offices with floor-to-ceiling glass partitions can be difficult to renovate. "The big problem is that there is only limited space for tall cupboards, and they can only be placed against walls without windows, while lower- or medium-sized cupboards can be placed against the glass partitions, back to back. This makes for a more esthetic setup and means there is still enough lighting and space in the room," she said.

With larger rooms, it is better to divide them into different functional zones separated by mobile partitions that can be made higher or lower, depending on the company’s activities. This frees up operational space and also makes it easy to transform the office into something that corresponds with whatever the company or its various departments have to do.

Today, there are both imported and Russian-made mobile partitions on the market. The best known producers in Russia include Bene, Unifor, Nayada and Stroimoda. More customers today prefer to buy Russian-made partitions, which are as good as Italian and French partitions in quality but are on average 2.5 times cheaper (from $70-$250 per square meter of ready-made partition). Also, Russian-made partitions can be delivered within two to 20 days, as opposed to two to three months for imports.

With mobile partitions, it is easy to change the office around if the number of employees increases without having to thoroughly reorganize the whole room. Modular furniture also makes this task easier, as it can be changed easily for working or relaxation needs or for reception areas.

"It makes sense to use transforming tables in meeting rooms," said Felix’s Marinicheva. "They can be changed into several independent segments, or put back together as one meeting table."

In offices with a large staff, ergonoic tables are the ideal solution. They are compact and make it possible to have the required number of working areas while still having room for people to move about. If the number of people in the office is not too high, then straight tables are the best. They can be equipped with additional components such as supports for computer monitors, a mobile cupboard, attachable table and so on.

Many furniture producers are adding ergonomic sofas, tables and chairs to their product range. DOK-17, for example, has completely reworked its office-furniture range in order to offer different types of customers the optimum solutions for properly using office space.

"We can design new furniture taking into account the field in which the company works and the different style preferences of our clients. We offer our clients not only furniture, but also a way to organize both the office as a whole and each workstation," DOK-17’s Nikologorskaya said.