How to Bring Music Festival Energy to Your Office

For many, music festivals are the highlight of the summer. Over the course of a weekend, revellers can let their hair down and rave until the last note is played. No commute. No emails. Just pure enjoyment.

Indeed, festival life is far removed from the nine-to-five world, but what if we could bring some of that festival energy into the workplace? After all, people always seem to radiate happiness at festivals, so there must be something we can learn to help boost employee wellbeing.

With those thoughts in mind, we explore how businesses can take inspiration from Glastonbury to bring a feel-good factor into their office space.  So, grab your bucket hat and cider, and read on for some great tips!

Instil a Sense of Togetherness

Music festivals are all about bringing people together, so instilling that same sense of unity into the office will undoubtedly boost morale. While there are many initiatives you can roll out to achieve team bonding, you can also encourage it through workplace design.

Consider the following ideas:

• Celebrate Success Together – When targets are met, it’s always a good excuse to celebrate. A tasty-looking bar area, stocked with craft beers and spirits, will be ideal for this, and you can also use it for “pour at four” Friday!
• Build a Memory Wall – Festivals aren’t the only place where good memories are made. When it comes to business memories, you can relive the good times with a wall showcasing achievements, awards, pictures of team outings, charity initiatives and more.
• Bring the Beats – As the 210,000 Glastonbury visitors showed us in 2023, nothing brings people together like music, and the same can apply to the office. Take New York-based branding firm ICRAVE, which has a reception desk that doubles up as a DJ booth for team gatherings.

Additionally, make sure your overall office design scheme is harmonious to truly reflect the sense of togetherness. Consider a complementary colour palette and a theme that unites the interior elements.

Bring the Eats

One of the best things about festivals is indulging your taste buds and eating whatever you want. Indeed, after a weekend of Goan fish curries and Indonesian street food, going back to egg and cress sandwiches in the office is something of a disappointment. But it needn’t be that way!

Take communications company Woodrow, which, according to the London Evening Standard, offers free organic breakfasts to employees each day of the week. The same article mentions how Facebook offers its staff pick ‘n’ mix, which certainly captures the “forever young” festival spirit.

If you’re going to offer culinary delights too, consider introducing an inviting breakout area with catering facilities. For a great example, check out one of our latest industrial design and fit out projects; Albion Fine Foods’ new multi-purpose dining space, complete with a serving area, tea point, and coffee shop style banquet seating.

Make Work an Event

Festivals are spectacles. People don’t merely go to dance in a field: they go to be transported to another world. This is especially true at Glastonbury, which includes the Instagram-worthy Pyramid Stage (amongst many other stages) and a multitude of areas for fun activities.

These days, we see many big companies using a similar “build it and they will come” idea to attract top talent. In addition to creating offices with personality, they offer a variety of amenities. Take Google’s spectacular new London HQ, which includes a rooftop exercise trail and nap pods to catch a few winks.

For the likes of Google, an office is an event in itself, creating a sense of occasion for employees. This means that coming into the office isn’t merely about work, but rather an opportunity to experience something new and exciting.

Build a Space Where Employees Can Wander

“When in doubt, just wander,” is the Glastonbury motto, which sums up the free-spirited festival atmosphere. Indeed, few places give you a sense of freedom like festivals do – least of all stuffy, outdated offices with poor layouts.

The good news is there are ways to create a greater sense of freedom in the office. For example, you could give your employees permission to roam by introducing a zonal layout for activity-based working. This could include innovation hubs, tech-free quiet areas, and wellbeing spaces.

For a fun, festival-inspired idea, think about naming the zones and rooms. Glastonbury’s areas, for example,  are named with an air of whimsy and adventure, such as Glastonbury-on-Sea and Unfairground. Back in the office world, Facebook reportedly named its spaces after Harry Potter characters, Game of Thrones sites, and iconic London landmarks. What will your rooms be called?

Check out Hudl’s quirky London office design, complete with meeting rooms named after sporting heroes.

Connect Employees to the Outdoors

There’s nothing like unzipping your tent and stepping out into nature. All festival goers love to wake up to blue summer skies, the smell of the country, and the prospect of an exciting day ahead.

If all this talk of the great outdoors has got you longing for the open air, here are some ideas to connect with nature in the office:

• Go Alfresco – If you’re lucky enough to have an outside space, encourage alfresco meetups on roof terraces. One trend is to set up stage-like area outside by installing bleacher seating, which is ideal for those summer gatherings.
• Introduce Tipis – Have you ever gone tribal in the Glastonbury Tipi Field? If not, then you can overcome the fear of missing out by bringing the tipis to you! For an idea of what we mean, check out the office chill tipis we saw at the 100% Design Show a few years back here.
• Build an Indoor Garden – If you can’t go alfresco, then bring the outside in! Think moss walls with integrated logos, imitation grass, furniture decked in foliage, and edible plants to provide dressing for lunch. Curly kale, anyone?

While creating an office “jungle” will help to bring the festival vibes, there’s no need to go mad. Remember, a few new biophilic features for the office can go a long way in freshening up the place and connecting employees to the outdoors.

Create Your Own “Healing Field”

Glastonbury is not just about the music and wild partying. For those in need of a break from the mosh pits, there is great getaway area called The Healing Field. This is dedicated to holistic healing and spiritual growth, and visitors can find a wide range of healers and therapists offering their services.

Offices can also be hectic places, with demands often taking their toll on employee wellbeing. As such, it can be beneficial to introduce rooms where staff members can step away from the noise and regroup. This coulda tranquil mindfulness room, yoga studio, or reading space.

Facilities like these can also be designed with biophilic elements to create an oasis of wellbeing. Rather than leaving the office with a headache, employees will feel like they’ve had an Indian head massage!

Link to external blog: https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/areas/the-green-fields/the-healing-field/

Thanks for Reading!

Ultimately, the key to building an office with festival energy is to design with the employees in mind. If you can create a space where they feel happy, relaxed, and inspired, then you will capture the spirit of Glastonbury all year round.

Oh, and make sure you bring in some drinks for that “pour at four” Friday session. A music festival is not a music festival without a drink in hand!

Written by Chris Sparham

Are You in Need of an Office Refurbishment Service?

If this blog has inspired you to bring some music festival spirit to your space, then we’d love to help! At Rap Interiors, we have a team of creative interior designers who have years of experience producing unique, morale-boosting design schemes. Whether you want to bring the beats, bring the eats, or re-configure your layout, our talented team will offer game-changing solutions for your interiors.

To get started with your project, please call 0333 600 1234 or fill out the enquiry form below.