Of all the topics you woke up this morning thinking you wouldn't read about today, pillars were probably on the top of your list. But you were wrong. Here you are and this is an article about pillars.
Pillars and columns are clearly important features of office buildings from a structural perspective, but I often find myself feeling like I wish they weren't there. From a planning perspective, they physically get in the way. And from a photography perspective, they visually get in the way.
Sigh.
We obviously need them, so I decided to do a little visual investigating to see what exactly can be done to move them from the shadows to the spotlight.
Put a tree on it – this office uses their pillars as the core of several a realistic trees.
Put a monitor on it – this reception area simply adds a monitor to their pillar as a way to add an announcement screen for incoming visitors
Put a message on it – these pillars are etched with the patent numbers Steelcase holds. Whether structural or not, the goal can be the same; to tell a message. Which in this case is to let people know that Steelcase holds an industry-leading 1,700+ patents!
Put a shape on it – though another example of non-structural pillars, the same concept can be applied by adding a little playfulness to otherwise dull looking rectangles
Put a whiteboard on it – instead of letting the wall space go to waste, you can slap a whiteboard (or 4) on your pillars to give some quick collaborative wall space.
Put some speakers on them and furniture around them – this is a huge lobby space and each pillar has seating around them to take advantage of the space in a fun way. They also have speakers on them for announcements and music.
Put a cabinet in between them – instead of wasting the space in between pillars, just add some cabinets or shelving in between to both shape your space and provide storage.
Put some announcements on them – I have no idea if these bus stop-style ads are real, but you could very easily plaster your company's real announcements to them like a community bulletin board.
Put a yarn graffiti on it – these non-structural pillars are covered in yarn graffiti and add some fun color to the space. I suppose you could do the same with real graffiti.
Put some wallpaper on them – some people loathe plain walls so this design adds a bit of flair and pizzaz to an otherwise boring pillar.
Put a metal cage on them – if cement pillars aren't industrial enough for you, you can wrap yours in metal sheets to really make them have the look you desire.
Put plywood on them – yep, you guessed it, this is the same concept as the previous photo. Just switch the metal sheets for plywood.
Put a graphic on it – this graphic helps let people know that this is where they keep all of their green and white cups. Just kidding, but it does let people know this is where the pantry is.
Put a sign on it – rather than a symbol as in the previous image, you can just put a sign in the room to let people know where they are and what is there.