The shape of things to come…
Is the move to tapered and curved tables in Microsoft Teams Rooms and hybrid meeting rooms a nice idea - or an essential need?
For those fitting out existing rooms with existing rectangular ‘bowling alley’ style tables, then it’s a question of making the best of what we have.
For those designing new spaces where hybrid meetings are part of the workflows, then not designing the room to face and greet your remote visitors can appear disrespectful - an impression that will grow over time as more and more hybrid-compatible table designs become the norm.
There’s geometry and trigonometry involved here, often ignored, but something we have long programmed into our parametric 3D CAD systems.
(On a sidebar, it’s incredible how the meeting room table can take such a disproportionate percentage of total room budget - and at the same time ignoring important design criteria. Putting form over function in hybrid space design is like shooting yourself in the foot. With a gold-plated revolver.)
Making the table design match the camera and user needs is not just the way to maximise your reputation with remote visitors to your space, it fosters a feeling of reciprocity which binds the in-person participants both together and with their remote participants.
Hybrid room design has significant interdependencies. To take a deeper dive into how to approach holistic space design in a structured and effective way, please download my White Paper ‘MTRs - The Bigger Picture’.
Posted: 13th June 2023