The aim of an office’s reception area is to make a positive first impression with visitors, providing them with a comfortable waiting area that is also pleasant for the employees who pass through each day. It is vital that the setting consistently reflects the company’s image and conveys the right values to guests and anyone else who uses the area. The changing needs of work spaces have led to a continuous transformation of these settings, which, over time, has seen the conventional reception area and waiting room merge for multifunctional purposes, with relaxation areas, meeting rooms and coffee corners. For this reason, when designing a corporate reception area, various factors need to be taken into account, such as compositional layout, the furnishings selected, lighting and, last but not least, acoustics.
Acoustic comfort and privacy
The information desk is right at the heart of the reception area: here, it is essential that levels of privacy are sufficient to enable confidential conversations. As both a waiting area and transit area, reception areas often experience acoustic issues caused by different noises overlapping: telephones ringing, photocopiers running, and visitors and employees chatting.
Sound-absorbing panels for office reception areas
To reduce reverberation times in reception areas, Caruso Acoustic offers a range of solutions to ensure the right acoustic treatment.
Available in ceiling- and wall-mounted versions, or suspended with adjustable cables, the Silente, Dot and Flag sound-absorbing panels can be positioned near the desk to effectively intercept sound waves caused by chatting. All three solutions are designed to have integrated LED lighting systems.
Alongside these, sound-absorbing accessories, including the suspended Kubo cube and the Menhir free-standing sound-absorbing totem with shelf, can be installed and used as handy surfaces for magazines, brochures or small furnishings. The colours and prints of Caruso Acoustic’s solutions are customisable, enabling customers to select sound-absorbing features tailored to the area’s specific design requirements.