Micro-workspaces: Highlighting their uses through lighting

When lighting reveals new ways of using the office.

Over the last decade, office design has undergone a profound transformation. Contemporary work environments are no longer confined to vast, uniform open-plan spaces: they are now organised around a constellation of micro-spaces, designed to cater for a variety of uses and work rhythms.

Focus pods, informal meeting bubbles, spaces for quick exchanges or areas for occasional individual work: these compact formats now play an essential role in the balance of professional environments. They provide staff with spaces suited to different levels of concentration, encourage spontaneous interactions and help to humanise the daily office experience.

In compact spaces, every design element becomes crucial, and lighting plays a central role. Far more than a mere functional solution, it contributes to the clarity of the spaces, their comfort of use, their identity and the atmosphere they create.

Through several recent projects in which our lighting fixtures have been specified, we would like to share some thoughts on how lighting can support the design of these contemporary workspaces—which are more people-centred, flexible and user-friendly—to enhance collective efficiency.

Entirely manufactured in Sète, in the south of France, our luminaires are made to measure in our workshop, ready for installation. Please contact us.

La Française - La Défense, Paris, France

In the Génération building in La Défense, Kubik was commissioned by La Française to redesign several workspaces, adopting a design strategy centred on colour and contrast.

Rather than partitioning off the spaces, the project uses bold colour schemes to subtly delineate different functions. The work alcoves, clad in deep greens, thus create intimate zones conducive to concentration.

In these deliberately enveloping micro-spaces, lighting is essential. Mobula pendant lights were chosen to provide precise, comfortable lighting whilst maintaining a sense of visual lightness.

Their organic, airy form introduces a fluid movement into these compact spaces. They help transform what might be perceived as a simple nook into a distinct workspace in its own right, endowed with its own presence and character.

Kyocera Offices - Massy, France

In these new offices, OCELLIS Group has designed a working environment that encourages spontaneous interaction and informal exchanges.

Along the main corridor, small breakout areas have been created between the office spaces. These micro-spaces allow staff to make a phone call, have a quick chat with a colleague or simply take a break, whilst remaining in close proximity to the workspaces.

The pendant lights Tower were chosen for their striking visual presence and high-quality lighting. Installed individually or in pairs, they create a welcoming focal point that immediately signals the purpose of these spaces.

Combined with a varied flooring scheme, they help to define these areas whilst maintaining the visual continuity of the corridor. Lighting thus becomes a tool for gently structuring the space, capable of defining uses without resorting to physical partitions.

This type of layout illustrates a hybrid approach, both architectural and social, which reflects the shift towards more open working environments that foster creativity, interaction and well-being.

BNP Paribas 150 Part-Dieu agency - Lyon, France