Office Window Shades
Tech companies are often considered to be at the forefront of both new technology and new design, and many of them are now putting that expertise to work. Building a new commercial business space allows them to showcase their knowledge of aesthetics and many are opting to combine aesthetics with a “greener” approach.
Firms like Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google all working on corporate redesigns for their headquarters, and there is one thing that they are all placing a great deal of importance on – windows. Amazon, which is revamping its Seattle Campus with not one, but three 37-story office towers, has one very notable design element, three interconnected nearly 100-foot high domes with self-sustaining ecologies within. This space, which will essentially be a biodome, will have office space, meeting rooms and dining areas, all surrounded by self-sustaining ecologies.
Of course, here at Shading Systems we are very familiar with corporations moving to provide employees and clients with outdoor inspired surroundings, as we worked with the Ameritania Hotel in New York to install motorized Castec greenhouse shades for a glass pyramid the hotel had installed. New Yorkers are also very familiar with the Bank of America Building, that reaches high up over mid-town Manhattan with over half a million square feet of glass that needed to have coverings. Well-known brand Nysan engineered the custom made shades for the many uniquely shaped windows of this building.
Commercial spaces in large cities, or in buildings that are not set to be demolished are still rising to the challenge of providing employees with a work environment that encourages them to feel good about being at work. The firms that realize the importance of a pleasant work environment are renovating buildings to include bigger and more open spaces, which translates to more windows in commercial buildings. Creating a sense of community at work can begin with the surroundings, and happy employees are harder working employees.
Similarly, businesses are also taking into consideration the economic benefits of green design. While there may not be many 100 foot biodome triplexes being built in Manhattan, real estate developers understand the value of light and views even in commercial spaces. As such we are seeing a number of corporate clients seeking ways to economically and beautifully cover the greater and greater expanse of glass in offices.
Many of these projects are making use of solar shades in order to bring both light (and heat) into a space. While we work with many companies to install blackout shades in rooms that are used for presentations, solar shading in employee general meeting areas is a very popular option for window coverings in commercial buildings.