A buzzy architecture firm designed the perfect office for collaboration. We took a tour inside and saw how color-changing lights and air filters can make you more productive.

• Business Insider toured architecture firm M Moser’s New York City office. The firm designs workplaces that optimize productivity and collaboration.
• Features of the office include “free address” workspaces, meaning employees don’t have assigned seats; a variety of desks that range from standing to lounges; and green walls that improve air quality.
• Charlton Hutton, M Moser’s veteran lead designer, told Business Insider that an ideal office provides a variety of different environments employees can use to best suit their individual needs.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

M Moser is a global workspace architecture firm that designs offices meant to increase productivity and well-being. The firm is based in Hong Kong but has offices in 4 different continents.

M Moser’s New York City office is in the Woolworth Building, once the tallest building in the world in the early 1900s. The architects chose the building for its history and the challenge of working in a pre-WWI building.

When you first walk into M Moser’s office, there’s no reception desk. Visitors walk into the kitchen space where employees gather to socialize.

“Why we did that is we didn’t want any boundaries to people coming into our space, feeling part of our culture and collaborating with us,” Charlton Hutton, a lead designer for the company, told Business Insider. “So that doesn’t just mean our employees, that means partners, clients, friends, family, anybody coming into the space and really being a part of what we’re doing here.”

Without a reception desk, employees use lockers to store their belongings for safety. Instead of badges, workers access the office using a biometric reader that scans thumbprints.

Near the entrance of the office, employees use a large digital screen to check in on industry-specific news, local weather conditions, and general updates. The digital board helps international teams communicate with each other for enhanced collaboration.

Once inside, the office is “free address,” meaning there’s no assigned seating. Employees can choose to sit in regular tables, high top tables, standing desks, or private and semi-private rooms.

M Moser designed their office to give employees a variety of workplaces. They can choose to sit, stand, look out a window, or pick a different setting. The choice enables people to modify their workspace to fit their unique desires, leading to greater productivity and teamwork, Hutton said.

With everyone moving around, M Moser’s office is designed to be “100% wireless.” Instead of being tethered to one spot near an outlet, employees use portable battery packs to charge laptops and phones.

At the end of the day, employees drop off battery packs themselves at charging lockers — which also serves as a socializing opportunity. “That’s what has really allowed us to be truly mobile because people can kind of flexibly grab these things and move around,” added Grant Christofely, M Moser’s workplace strategist.

The office includes 5 “green walls,” or fresh plant-covered walls. The self-watering, self-lit walls produce fresh air that circulates into the office. Better air quality improves productivity by keeping employees more alert and healthier, according to research from Columbia Business School.

Source: Markets Insider

M Moser installed air quality control monitors to ensure their office circulates at least 90% pure, clean air throughout the day. M Moser found that after installing green walls and cleaning their air, employees took less sick days than before.

The office has a few private rooms for individual and group collaboration. But the noise of an open office actually helps with collaboration, Christofely said, to keep the energy of the space up.

Plus, having a variety of workspaces within an office ensures that when employees do feel distracted, they can leave one desk and work somewhere else.

M Moser also works with color theory when designing different spaces. More focused, quiet areas have blue or green-toned walls and chairs, while “active zones” for talking use orange and other bright shades.

Finally, M Moser uses circadian lighting throughout the office which adapts to the color temperature at different points of the day. During the afternoon, lights have cool blue tones that keep employees focused and alert, before switching to yellowish in the evening to signal the end of the day.

Overall, M Moser’s approach to a productive, collaborative workspace is giving employees a variety of environments. “Everyone is comfortable in a little bit of a different way,” Hutton said. “So whether that’s a couch, whether that’s a high top table, whether that’s a bar stool, whether it’s an ergonomic task chair. However you want to work, we’re trying to provide that.”