Small Office Layout
In a small office layout, one desk in the wrong place can block the door or leave no space to pull out a chair. This example fits four desks and storage in one room and opens in the editor ready to adapt.
Example: four desks in 24.6 m² (265 sq ft)
Furniture in this layout
- 4 × Desk: 1.40 m × 0.70 m (4′ 7″ × 2′ 4″)
- 4 × Chair: 0.48 m × 0.50 m (1′ 7″ × 1′ 8″)
- 2 × Bookshelf: 0.90 m × 0.35 m (2′ 11″ × 1′ 2″)
Room sizes are measured between wall center lines, the way the editor measures rooms. Open the layout to move, resize or add anything.
Why this layout works
The four desks face each other in one block, so the room keeps a single open walkway around them instead of narrow gaps between separate desks. Each desk is 1.4 × 0.7 m (4′ 7″ × 2′ 4″), the size of the desk in the editor's library.
The desk fronts sit about 1.4 m (4′ 8″) from the walls, which leaves room for a chair and for someone to pass behind it. The shelving goes on the side wall with almost 1.5 m (4′ 10″) in front of it, so opening a cupboard does not mean asking a colleague to move.
Checklist for a small office
Door and window first
Place the door and windows before the desks. A door swing needs its own clear arc, and desks by the window get the daylight but can catch glare on screens.
Room behind every chair
A common rule of thumb is about 1 m (3′ 3″) from the desk edge to the nearest obstacle, and more where people walk behind a seated colleague.
One clear route
Keep a straight path from the door to every desk. Around 0.9 to 1.2 m (3′ to 4′) is a typical width for a main walkway.
Storage you can reach
Shelving and cupboards need space in front of them to open doors and stand while searching.
Your real furniture
Set each desk's width and depth in the properties panel to the furniture you own or plan to buy.
Power and data
Mark sockets and floor boxes with text labels so the desks end up where the cables can reach them.
Adapting the example to your room
Open it in your units
Use the meters or feet-and-inches link under the plan; the room opens with its desks, chairs and shelving.
Set the real size
Select each wall and type its measured length, then check that the furniture still fits.
Add the door and windows
Drag them from the library onto the walls and set their widths.
Rearrange and check
Move the cluster, duplicate a desk for a fifth person, and use the measure tool on the walkways.
Compare other desk layouts
Select the room and open desk auto-fill. Switch between single desks, benches, L-shaped desks and pods of 4, and tick the option to replace the desks already in the room, to see which layout seats your team with the aisle widths you want.
Common small-office arrangements
Desks along the walls
Everyone faces a wall and the middle stays free. It suits narrow rooms but puts backs to the door.
A cluster in the middle
As in the example: shorter cable runs and a shared walkway, but it needs space on all four sides.
Desks plus a small table
Swap one desk for a small table and two chairs where the team meets often.
Frequently asked questions
How big is the example small office?
5.6 × 4.4 m (18′ 4″ × 14′ 5″) between wall center lines, which is 24.6 m² (265 sq ft), with four 1.4 × 0.7 m (4′ 7″ × 2′ 4″) desks, four chairs and two bookshelves.
How much space does one desk need?
It depends on the desk, the chair and how people move around it. Draw your own desk at its real size and measure the space behind the chair, rather than relying on a single figure per person.
Can I add a door to the example room?
Yes. The room opens without doors or windows so you can put them where your real ones are: drag a door from the library onto any wall.
Will the editor tell me if a desk blocks the door?
The office checks flag furniture standing in a door's swing or in the space in front of it, chair zones blocked by furniture or walls, and aisles narrower than the widths you set. They are advisory planning aids, not a building-code check.
Can I keep track of who sits where?
The desks count as seats. In the Seats panel you can put them in a colored zone, number them and download a seat schedule as CSV or PDF; it lists codes, zones, floors and rooms rather than names.