The conference room: designing one takes more than coordinating colors and material swatches.

• Author: Horvath, Terri
• Position: Office Design & Products

You might think of long mahogany tables and plush, leather-covered chairs when you think of a conference room. Or your experiences may conjure an image of sparse decor and easily portable equipment.

In any case, the conference room's use and appearance communicate your company image and values. Planning the design of your conference room requires much more than simply coordinating colors and material swatches.

"The aesthetics of the room depends on the clients--the type of business they are in," says Amy Henderson-Ramaker, a designer with HNTB Corp. in Indianapolis. "You don't want to project the wrong image."

"We wanted something substantial, almost museum-quality, but not old-fashioned," says Ken Dunsire, Lincoln National Corp's chief administrative officer, describing the image for the Fort Wayne company's new headquarters. For the project, the Fort Wayne firm SchenkelSchultz sought a combination of elegance, a sense of history and modern-day technology throughout the public areas, including the board room.

A 26-foot board table, made of mahogany with an inlay of Abraham Lincoln's profile, takes center stage. It has built-in microphones to allow board members to speak in normal tones while projecting their voices through ceiling speakers. Surrounding the table is an atmosphere comprised of dark wood, green marble, recessed ceilings and chandeliers.

The first order of business when planning a conference room is to determine your expectations of the room. "It sounds rudimentary, but too often people get locked into what I consider flash," says Tony Passannante, who represents Alma Group, a furniture manufacturer in Elkhart. "They forget that the room is there for one reason first: utility. Define the utility first and then worry about how to communicate your company's position or image."

"Function is the major determinant in what products are specified," agrees Patricia Schmitt, facilities designer for Jasper-based office-furniture maker Kimball International.

Sallie Rowland, a partner of the design firm The Rowland Associates in Indianapolis, shares a listing of information her staff needs to know before settling on the design.

"The first thing we talk to the client about is the purpose of the room. What's the seating capacity? How many people would normally use the room and for what purposes? To a great extent that dictates the size of the table and the size of the room itself."

She specifies some other questions: Should the room have...