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In the age of work-from-home, offices no longer have the draw they once did. The Malin, a new membership-based coworking space in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood, wants to change that. The brainchild of duo Jean Morana and Jordan Trinci-Lyne (the lead designers at furniture brand Orior), in collaboration with Fettle Design, the office feels more like a dream house than it does a WeWork.
By scattering pieces from design-forward brands like Flos and the Future Perfect, rather than traditional cubicles and ergonomic chairs, the warm environment avoids every corporate stereotype. Here we’ve highlighted the five design ideas we’re stealing from the loft for our own spaces, starting with a monochrome living room.
It’s Not Lapis, It’s Cerulean
Monochrome designs can go far beyond black and white. In the Malin’s library, navy sofas sit beside robin’s-egg blue armchairs, with a cerulean rug underfoot. “It’s the only silent space at the Malin, so the colors needed to speak to that distinct separation,” Ciaran McGuigan, Orior’s creative director and The Malin co-founder, explains.
The Looking Glass
At the reserved desks, recycled crystal dividers create a sense of privacy—a difficult thing to achieve in a loft without many walls. The transparent texture separates the desks without blocking mood-boosting natural light. You may not be sharing your desk at home, but the same trick works on a larger scale, like for a shower wall in a bathroom.
Arched Over
We love a wall of windows as much as the next person, but have you considered arching and supersizing the wood trim? Across all of the loft’s conference rooms and enclosed workspaces, curved panes of glass add movement among the industrial bones’ hard edges. The same ribbed glass shows up again on the bottom halves of the doors, so you can take your conference call in peace.
Snaked Seating
The Malin knows that booth seating is the best seating. With tufted velvet backs and two-tone green upholstery, the benches connect via sinuous curves for one continuous leather moment along the entire wall. Sitting on the open edges offers members a full view of the floor, making it a great place to take a break and hang out—an important pause for the design team.
In the Spotlight
Light, rather than walls, delineates each area in the open layout. A globe chandelier marks the conference table; red table lamps separate each row of desks; and library-style table lights outline the individual workspaces. The bulbs are all warm toned (2,700k to be precise) without being too orange. Says McGuigan, “Too yellow can be sleep inducing and counterproductive in a place where people need to be alert and awake!”