Speakeasies are the newest office design trend
Companies are leaning on more luxury amenities and into a hospitality focus in offices to entice staff back to in-person work. Some new offerings include sleek cafe areas resembling airport lounges, and even golf-simulators. Now an emerging trend is in-office “speakeasies.”
The private, quiet, dimly-lit rooms with comfortable seating are ideal places for private conversations, client meetings and recording podcasts, according to designers.
They’re also a more intimate, casual setting for small groups to mingle and where coworkers can get to know each other. And of course – there are drinks (and sometimes food.)
Modern speakeasies are more commonly associated with nightlife culture (originating in the Prohibition era) and are common in big cities like New York, London and Tokyo. But they haven’t before been referred to within a corporate setting.
That’s likely because employers haven’t had to work so hard before to encourage people to want to be in the office, and they want to provide an environment that best facilitates company goals like relationship building and collaboration between employees, which doesn’t always (or even that often) happen in large open offices.
During the pandemic, “people spent so much time at home or so much time working in different types of spaces, not just the office,” said Ariel Lumry, senior interior project designer at design firm Perkins&Will’s Dallas studio. “The office is no longer just an office. And I think the speakeasy is part of that.”
Perkins&Will recently worked with Stonebriar Commercial Finance to create its new headquarters office in Plano, Texas, which includes a speakeasy. The idea was to create a “socially-oriented space that is intended to draw employees out of private offices and towards one another.”
“Yes, a speakeasy traditionally revolves around things like secrecy and consumption,” said Dana Weldon, project manager at Perkins&Will.
But they also provide a sensory-safe zone. “It’s this retreat that allows your senses to relax. If you’re in there with just a couple of people, it’s quiet, the lighting is low, the acoustics are good, it can definitely be used for that as well,” Weldon said.
Private spaces to focus or reset are a key demand from workers today returning to offices. Many are struggling to avoid distractions in large open offices and need quieter spaces to work. But they also want areas to get away from their desks and take meaningful breaks somewhere. Speakeasies provide a space for both.
Gensler has also recently designed speakeasies within offices as part of building amenities. One example, shared by tenants at 360 N Green in Chicago’s Fulton Market, includes a bar, lounge seating and a mini bowling alley. The space is hidden and accessed through a rotating bookcase door, and also includes a large outdoor terrace.
The bar and outdoor space make it ideal for hosting events, said Lori Mukoyama, a global hospitality leader at Gensler who helped design it. But it’s also used as a place for staff to get away from their offices while still working, or to take a break from work.
“It’s something that can scale up or down for the people that are coming in,” Mukoyama said. Another speakeasy Gensler recently designed is in the famed Merchandise Mart building in Chicago.
