THE EVOLVING WORKPLACE: INSIGHTS ON OFFICE DESIGN TRENDS

In 2026, building owners remain focused on elevating the workplace experience, investing in modern amenities and thoughtfully designed office environments to attract and secure tenants. At the same time, companies are leveraging tenant improvement allowances to create high-quality, purpose-driven spaces that help recruit and retain top talent as employees continue returning to the office.

To explore how these priorities are shaping workplace design, Colliers | Columbus

connected with Columbus-based architecture and interior design firm Darin Ranker Architects. Darin Ranker, Architect and Owner and Beth Rihl, Owner and Senior Project Manager/Interior Designer, shared their perspective on today’s evolving office trends and how their team helps deliver efficient, amenity-rich environments for both building owners and tenants.

Darin Ranker Architects is known for tenant-focused workplace design and repositioning existing buildings. How would you describe your firm’s core workplace philosophy today, and how has that evolved since pre-COVID?

Our philosophy has always been to listen very carefully to our clients’ needs first and foremost. It has not changed. The client and building owner needs are what have evolved since COVID.

How does your approach differ when you’re designing directly for an occupier versus advising a landlord on speculative or repositioned office space? Where do you see the biggest gaps between landlord assumptions and tenant expectations today?

Our approach to design doesn’t change a great deal between owners and tenants. Both want the best design while considering construction costs.

The largest gap is educating prospective tenants on the cost implications associated with current tenant buildouts. Construction costs have skyrocketed, primarily after COVID. Prospective tenants are not aware of these rising costs, while landlords are. Building owners are constantly reminding us to utilize existing conditions to the greatest extent possible, to work around or to utilize existing plumbing locations to minimize construction costs, particularly in short term lease deals. Tenants are typically very surprised after receiving the costs from an initial conceptual design based solely on creativity alone, thus requiring multiple plan revisions to get the project cost within their initial budget. To bridge the gap between owners and tenants, we try to incorporate all the expensive components as alternates so that the General Contractor can break out those costs separately, allowing the tenant to weigh options as to what is most important to them.

What are one or two workplace design trends your firm has implemented in the past 12 months that are directly tied to how employees use the office today? Can you share a brief example or outcome from a recent project?

A few design trends that come to mind all stem from business owners wanting their employees to physically come back to work in the office. We are implementing more amenity spaces such as lounges, exercise and gaming rooms, more open collaborative spaces with seating areas, as well as large open breakroom/café areas. We are also adding more natural light into the tenant spaces (rooms) by adding more glass, allowing more natural light to flow into the space. We are seeing more offices with glass fronts on the interior of the space with the more open modular work environment on the building perimeter maximizing natural light into the core of their space. We are also seeing an increase in higher end finishes, making the space more inviting and appealing. A space where employees want to come to work. Businesses with large leases are desperately trying to get their employees back in the office. This also comes into play when recruiting new hires. The new generation of prospective hires seem to be more impressed with the way an office looks, as opposed to how it functions.

From your recent landlord-driven projects, what investments are resonating most with tenants: building amenities, flexible floor plates, shared collaboration space or something else? Where are landlords still over- or under-investing?

In our recent experience, building spaces that resonate the most with tenants are large meeting or training spaces. Many tenants need access to these areas on a weekly or monthly basis. Having access to these spaces as a building amenity allows them to lease a bit less square footage and to spend more of the tenant allowances on other upgrades within their proposed space. This is a huge win for the tenant when they have access to a large room they don’t have to account for in their leasable square footage. Landlords are over investing in providing new building amenity spaces such as fitness centers, particularly in older buildings, to compete with the newer buildings that are currently being built with those amenities being provided. All prospective tenants would like one, specifically a fitness center, to check a box when touring buildings, but we are seeing that they are underutilized.

How is the open-office model being recalibrated in your recent projects? What elements are being pulled back and what is replacing them - focus rooms, team rooms, hoteling or hybrid collaboration zones?

The open office concept is being recalibrated in a few different ways. There is a trend to go back to more of an enclosed office environment due to sound concerns. With that, we are seeing the request for more cozy collaborative seating areas spread out throughout the space for relief from the privacy. Pre-COVID was a huge want for a shared desk, benching type workstation approach. During COVID, we had to try and space people out much more, even to the point of designating a certain square footage to each person.

Are tenants allocating a higher percentage of their footprint to shared or collaborative spaces today? How are those spaces being programmed differently than pre-pandemic, both within tenant suites and at the building level?

We are seeing tenants allocate a higher percentage of their footprints to shared collaborative spaces, both formal and informal. We believe this evolution is mostly related to a new view of workspace from the incoming generation of workers. Work is evolving into more of a group effort in lieu of an individual effort. That requires different areas within a space to meet those needs. The function of the workplace is also changing. With technology being so mobile, many businesses no longer require a person to be “tethered’ to a single desk all day. This new way of working allows employees to take their work to different areas within the office. They may commence the day working at their desk, then move to a lounge area to collaborate with a co-worker and finish the day in a huddle room for necessary privacy. Employees are also taking their laptop to a building café area for a change of scenery, utilizing the building owners’ amenities spaces. This new way of working is very appealing to new hires, and we incorporate all of this into our designs with tenants and building owners.

Are you seeing tenants shrink footprints but invest more heavily in quality, or are they taking a different approach?

We are seeing tenants shrink footprints as well as invest in quality fun spaces. Some businesses are combining or consolidating multiple locations into a single larger location for efficiencies, while others that have allowed their employees to work hybrid, maybe working in the office a few days per week, consolidating their space by offering shared workspaces or hoteling workstations requiring much less square footage. We have also seen an increase of full floor or single tenant buildings being converted to multi-tenant floors due to businesses downsizing. I can say that at a minimum, regardless of size, tenants are really making the effort to spend more on finishes, to showcase certain areas mainly for employee recruitment and employee retention. To end on a good note, since the first of the year, we have seen a dramatic increase with respect to space planning for prospective tenants. There is a lot of activity out there and if that’s an indication of how the year is going to be architecturally, it’s looking good so far!

For more information on current office trends, check out our 2026 Columbus Office Tenant Report!

2026 Foresight Report