Create a Forest-Style Office That Energizes Your Work

Office workers spend as much as a third of their lives in the office. Air-quality measurements show that offices with abundant plants have a positive effect on employee mood, and offices that incorporate natural elements can raise productivity by 16%.

For this reason, some designers add as many natural elements as possible when designing offices — some even place the office directly within a natural setting, blurring the line between indoors and outdoors. With the design built around the idea of "bringing nature into the office," here are a few tips for creating a "forest-style" office that gives employees a comfortable, relaxing place to work.

01 Feature Greenery as a Visual Centerpiece

Move past traditional murals and reliefs: make interior greenery the main furnishing and visual centerpiece, drawing people in with the distinctive charm of its shapes and colors.

Vertical wall greenery can be installed at the reception desk, central lobby, or podium of a conference hall — a vertical garden, or "living green wall," is one excellent option.

Choose flexible, low-maintenance indoor plant varieties to dress up a full interior wall. This not only fosters a sense of calm among employees but also leaves a lasting impression on visiting clients.

02 Accent Corners Alongside Other Furnishings

Greenery can be placed beside sofas, in front of and behind screens, near indoor rock features and water surfaces. Potted plants enliven the corners of a space and gently remind passersby to watch their step.

03 Hang Plants for Vertical Greening

In rooms with high ceilings, hanging plants enrich the indoor environment — they draw the eye upward and evoke the atmosphere of an outdoor forest. In tighter spaces, wall-mounted trellises can support climbing vines to create vertical greening.

04 Create Backdrops for Contrast

Plant greenery in swathes or rows — an indoor lawn or hedge of plants, for example. The deep green and natural forms of indoor plants contrast beautifully with foreground elements like pavilions, platforms, pools, and furniture, making the indoor environment's outlines crisp, lively, and orderly.

05 Design in Broad Planes

Use foliage plants as the main body, choosing varieties with similar shapes, colors, and textures to create a sweeping, unified visual effect. This works best in larger offices or reception halls.

06 Arrange in Lines

This method uses plants with consistent shapes and silhouettes, planted in straight or curving lines along the floor, in pots, or in planters. It forms a miniature green corridor that helps organize and guide movement, complementing the division of static zones and the direction of circulation through dynamic ones.

07 Scatter in Points

Use a single, characterful plant as an accent point in the room — placed on the floor, a desk, or a coffee table, or hung overhead — adding a splash of color to otherwise monochrome office furnishings. For an executive's office, the greenery layout should be decided by the room's size and the effect you want to achieve.

In an era increasingly focused on healthy work, the "forest-style" office is gaining popularity — injecting fresh energy into the workday.