Office Design Trends Through the Decades (2024)

Over the past 50 years or so, what the office means to us has drastically changed—and so have the office design trends. Whether we like it or not, these spaces are where most of us spend the majority of our waking hours. It’s where we eat meals, forge friendships, and flex our creativity. As white collar jobs increased around the middle of the last century, more people have entered the traditional office setting. There was a big culture of commuting to the big cities in the height of suburbanization. American office culture has become an experience all its own, forever memorialized in film, television, and comics for decades to come.

During the ’80s, it was truly about establishing a sense of camaraderie. (Whom amongst us hasn’t once said, “Somebody’s got a case of the Mondays?”) But the office took on new meaning in the 2000s, with many people abandoning the outdated structure in favor of shared coworking spaces between different companies, which also attracted freelance and remote workers. The pandemic turned everything on its head, turning every corner of the home into a potential office. (Have a webcam, will work.) Whether you’ve got a home office of your own or are just looking for inspiration within your dusty cubicle, consider turning to these office design trends from the past.

1900s–1920s: Maximum efficiency

The turn of the century featured innovations that are essential to the office setups of the following decades. Buildings were now built with stronger materials and the arrival of electric lighting meant that workers didn’t have to rely on gas lights. The inventions of the typewriter and telephone became workplace staples. Engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor’s “efficiency method”—also known as Taylorism—followed a similar setup to Henry Ford’s assembly line, created in 1913, organizing employees based on their jobs. Desk spaces were minimal, and the swivel chairs now popular in most offices allowed typists to perform their tasks without needing to adjust their seats.

1930s–1950s: The rise of the modern office

This period was marked by the end of World War II, when many returned to the workplace, including women, who had filled many necessary roles as part of the wartime effort. Employees were placed into department groups to work alongside one another. Companies also began adding features for morale boosts, like kitchens and break rooms, and designers took note of the growing office culture, putting focused attention into creating desks, chairs, and other furnishings to fit the modern worker.

1960s–1970s: The enduring legacy of MCM style and Danish design

You might be imagining the stylish office of Don Draper on the hit show Mad Men. And the midcentury office style for executives definitely followed these trends, including oversized desks, with the popular wood paneled walls and long, low couches. Popular names from the era would be represented, including “executive chairs” by Adrian Pearsall and Knoll, desks and sideboards from Broyhill, and atomic-inspired light fixtures like the “Sputnik” style and brass accents.

“Florence Knoll’s designs for sofas, benches, and credenzas are some of the most successful aspects of the Knoll Planning Unit’s project,” says Amy Auscherman, director of archives and brand heritage at Miller Knoll. “She often referred to her furniture designs as the ‘meat and potatoes’ of a project, while pieces from Eero Saarinen and Harry Bertoia were the sculptural stars. Knoll’s own designs also have achieved iconic status in their own right, especially in the workplace.” But the same offices had a series of secretarial desks often arranged near bulky file cabinets with enough space for the essentials: an electric typewriter, a phone, and a Rolodex.

1980s–1990s: The rise of the corporate cube

The offices of the ’80s and ’90s weren’t really known for their aesthetics, often incorporating patterned carpet and rolling desk chairs. The personal computer became an integral part of office culture by the following decade, replacing the electric typewriter. It had also been downsized, no longer the IBM behemoths originally introduced to America’s offices. But if this era had a “design style,” it would be a cubicle, memorialized in the 1999 film Office Space and both version the British and American versions of the show The Office.

While the cubicle was originally created by Robert Propst in 1964, a designer for Herman Miller, it experienced a resurgence two decades later. The intention was employee privacy and productivity, but it led to cramped spaces that workers loathed, especially since the higher-ups still had their large offices with windows. Employees did their best to personalize their square offices, hanging up photos and artwork on the fabric-covered faux walls. Some offices, however, leaned into a whimsical maximalism with bright fabric chairs and geometric wall decor.

2000s: Breaking down the walls

The aughts swapped out the square boxes of the cubicle era for the nearly equally dreaded (at least by employees) reign of the “open concept,” which was believed to offer more collaboration. What little privacy remained in the ’90s was now gone, as the higher-ups could keep tabs on underlings with an uninterrupted sightline. Fluorescent lighting from above was abundant, with long divided tables in place of traditional desks. In the conference rooms, the glass walls doubled as whiteboard workspaces. Noise was also an issue, now that there was no place for the sound to be absorbed, leading to even lower morale.

The big Silicon Valley companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook also had a big impact on office design, with sprawling campuses similar to those you might expect from a university setting, including fitness centers and cafeterias. The Apple Park space has a focus on sustainability, with recycled concrete, and modular office spaces that emphasize collaboration.

2010s: Shared space with all the social perks

The rise of remote and freelance work paved the way for an abundance of coworking spaces, each with its own amenities like onsite gyms, beer taps, Ping-Pong tables, and kitchens stocked with snacks. Most didn’t have assigned desks, but workers could float between common spaces filled with beanbag chairs, couches, and picnic tables. Before the company’s public downfall, WeWork’s abundant locales revolutionized the coworking industry with a trendy design aesthetic, with some inspiration from each city cited the “office of the future.” For example, a London office incorporated details related to the building’s film history, while a Berlin space has colorful and geometric accents pulling from Memphis design.

Across the 11 female-focused locations of The Wing, interior designer Chiara de Rege and architect Alda Ly incorporated curved pastel furniture, marble surfaces, color-coordinated books, punchy wallpaper, and an abundance of plants. (The estate sale for the now shuttered West Hollywood location went viral on TikTok.) “[For the first location], visuals ranged from midcentury to bohemian eclectic to Ettore Sottasas,” says Chiara, who designed six of the locations. “There were subtle changes in furniture styles that felt more feminine, less angled, softer and more lounge like than office-y.” Ethel’s Club was another space beloved by the coworking crowd in Brooklyn, especially the BIPOC community. It’s since closed due to pandemic challenges, but designer Shannon Maldonado incorporated multiple spaces for work and relaxation, including stadium seating, minimalist tables, and a cozy tobacco-colored couch. The geometric tiles and wallpaper surrounded open shelves and a library stocked with authors of color.

When New Work Project opened Tenth in 2017, the team sought to offer Brooklyn-based freelancers and creative agencies a more modern coworking space with a monochromatic palette, modern artwork, and sleek lounge areas. “Our members value not only functional workspaces, but also appreciate the thoughtful design and upscale amenities that our spaces offer,” founder James Davison says in an email. “The intentional flexibility of these spaces reflects our commitment to meeting the dynamic needs of the modern workforce.” Members-only spaces like Soho House blended the line between work and social clubs, starting in London before expanding across the globe. Offering amenities like rooftop pools, bars and restaurants, gyms, event spaces, and impeccably designed guest rooms, their locations have become a place to see and be seen—and, of course, work. All have an incredibly curated array of artwork including those from locals and big names like Damien Hirst and Shepard Fairey.

Today: Office is where the home is

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every office job transitioned to remote working, with makeshift “work from home” offices on kitchen countertops, ironing boards, and any possible surface carved out for executing daily tasks. For those of us that didn’t have an extra room to spare for a proper home office setup, we designated certain zones for WFH activities, purchasing essentials like standing desks, adjustable chairs, and ring lights for the inevitable Zoom meetings. (The lucky ones took advantage of outdoor space, converting patios into backyard offices.) So far, the 2020s are all about feeling as comfortable at work as you are at home.

But some companies, especially smaller ones, have been in favor of flipping houses into corporate offices, like the Los Angeles–based brands Ghia and Houseplant. For Seth Rogen, there was no better place for the HQ of his cannabis lifestyle company than a 1918-built bungalow styled with midcentury-modern decor and complete with open wall shelving that features vintage ashtrays. (As you might expect from the brand, the workspaces are also filled with houseplants.) “We needed somewhere to base our operations out of, kind of like a workplace,” Seth told AD. “A lot of our products are home goods, so we found that to be able to see them in a home-type setting was invaluable.”

Ghia, a nonalcoholic beverage brand, is also based in a home, specifically a beautiful old Tudor home in Beachwood Canyon, which the team moved into after returning to in-office work following the wane of the pandemic. Among its features are a full kitchen setup, flexible workspaces shared between multiple employees, outdoor space for lunches and calls, and even guest rooms for visitors in town. The dark wood arches open into the kitchen and dining room, with an intricately painted mural and cloudlike light fixtures for a dose of whimsy. But it’s the 1972 Etienne Fermigier rainbow sofa that is the true showstopper.

“We knew that we wanted to have a place that not only served as an office but could also be a place to host our friends, family, and community, so a house seemed like the most natural choice,” says Ghia founder and CEO Mélanie Masarin. “Everyone on the Ghia team is an epicurean so having a kitchen was super important. We always gather there to sample upcoming products, whip up a quick lunch, or grab a late afternoon spritz.”