How many days out of all 365 does a town hall meeting actually happen? If you've set aside a large space for company-wide events but it sits empty as dead space the rest of the time, this is worth your attention. The trend in startup offices, both in Korea and abroad, is to dissolve the boundary between the lounge and the meeting room. The same space serves as a lounge for rest and recharging day to day, then becomes the place where everyone gathers for a town hall when needed. SPACEBASE adds psychological theory to this idea, proposing designs that raise spatial efficiency while maximizing communication among employees. Discover the answer to town hall design that cuts wasted space and keeps organizational culture alive.

Still weighing how to handle your town hall meeting space?

A town hall meeting space can be designed around 'spatial efficiency,' transforming into a cafeteria or lounge during work hours and into a meeting space for events. This is a lounge reviewed through the floor plan during SPACEBASE's 'Millie's Library' project. In the same space, adding stools for an all-hands meeting made it possible to maximize the seating capacity.

When many companies consider a town hall meeting space, they may worry that it becomes wasted space because it is rarely used. The core of recent office design lies in 'spatial efficiency' — transforming into a cafeteria or lounge during work hours and into a meeting space for events. Achieving this requires a clearly defined scope from the planning stage.

To map out a town hall space efficiently, the SPACEBASE team recommends running through the checklist below first.

✅ An Essential Checklist for Building a Town Hall Meeting Space

Defining the Scope: Beyond accommodating the entire company, have you accounted for visits from external partners or clients?
Spatial Efficiency: Instead of a dedicated auditorium that sees little use, have you considered using the space as a cafeteria or lounge day to day?
Media and Stage Equipment: Can a large screen or display be installed? And can a separate podium area be secured?
Support Facilities: Is there storage space for audio equipment, laptops, tables, and the like after an event?
Catering Zone: Is there space to set out light refreshments and drinks?

💡 An Extra Tip from the SPACEBASE Team

We strongly recommend a display so that information reaches everyone clearly, with no blind spots. For companies that hold frequent seminars or presentations, having a dedicated podium is a real advantage.
Items needed for events can be kept tidy by using hidden storage cabinets when they're not in use.
For networking parties without presentations, it's efficient to provide a serving counter or bar table where food and drinks can be set up.

The 'Hello' a Space Conveys: The Essence of the In-House Lounge

An in-house lounge should be like a lubricant, offering employees a silent word of comfort and care. (Image courtesy of Ledger / STUDIOS)

Simply placing expensive furniture in a large space doesn't make a good lounge. SPACEBASE defines a company lounge as a space like a lubricant — one that offers employees a silent word of comfort and care, as if saying "Thank you for your hard work again today." A company's vision and culture should come through here naturally, and concrete elements supporting employees' psychological well-being are essential. So what does it take to capture the essence of an in-house lounge?

✅ Essential Elements of an In-House Lounge

Spatial elements that reflect the company's vision and culture
A generous snack bar that's freely available
Recliners and comfortable chairs arranged to ease physical tension
White noise (BGM) designed to help everyone unwind
A range of seating options, from open tables for talking with colleagues to single seats for those who need rest on their own

The Spatial Psychology That Breaks the Silence and Invites Questions

Why do lively discussions happen in some spaces while only silence fills others? The answer lies in spatial psychology.

💡 Questions begin when eyes meet.

The typical lecture-hall layout, where you only see the back of the person in front of you, shuts down interaction. A layout where people can see each other's eyes, on the other hand, strengthens the sense of belonging — the feeling that "I'm part of this conversation too" — and naturally encourages people to speak up.

💡 Soft materials get people talking.

Hard, cold finishing materials trigger unconscious tension, while fabric and warm-toned lighting raise a sense of 'psychological safety.' This is the state in which employees can voice their opinions without fear of punishment or blame. A space with a soft atmosphere creates an environment where people can speak freely, without fear of criticism.

💡 Height determines creativity.

Higher ceilings are known to encourage more abstract and creative thinking. Since a town hall meeting is where a company shares its vision and future, the space should be designed to draw employees toward creative thinking from a broader perspective. To that end, exposing the ceiling or maximizing a sense of openness works to your advantage.

[👉 (Reference) See the office design principles that elevate employee creativity]

SPACEBASE's Town Hall Meeting Solution: Millie's Library

To capture the corporate philosophy Millie's Library stands for, SPACEBASE used warm wood-toned finishing materials throughout the lounge for an overall comfortable and welcoming feel.

2.6x the Capacity, with No Blind Spots for Immersion

The Millie's Library lounge is a textbook example of flexible design — a cafeteria where employees relax day to day that transforms into a large auditorium for company-wide events. The details that raise 'spatial density' especially stand out. To eliminate screen blind spots in a space of roughly 165 m² (50 pyeong), two large media displays were placed facing different directions so that information reaches every seat clearly. On top of that, instead of a simple chair layout, 'tiered benches' were introduced, securing about 2.6 times the seating capacity for the same floor area.

Two large media displays were placed facing different directions so the screen would be clearly visible from any seat, preventing screen blind spots.

Instead of a simple chair layout, 'tiered benches' were introduced to secure seating capacity efficiently.

Folding doors that divide the space have the advantage of letting you use the area freely. The trade-off is that they can offer weaker sound insulation than a cement wall. To make up for the folding doors' weaker acoustic performance, acoustic boards were installed on the ceiling, a fabric wall on the walls, and carpet on the floor, minimizing noise interference between the work area and the lounge.

A 'Library of Communication' Where Analog Sensibility Meets Digital Technology

SPACEBASE set out to capture the corporate philosophy Millie's Library stands for in the lounge — its identity as 'a platform that unpacks the analog value of books through digital technology.' To do this, warm wood-toned finishing materials were used throughout to realize the calm, library-like sensibility that printed books offer. Cutting-edge media equipment was also paired with sleek, straight lines to convey the character of a smart IT company. This goes beyond pretty interior design: the space itself was meant to become a medium that conveys to employees a silent message and a sense of pride — "We are the people who connect books and technology."

Here, the space was designed so that natural communication could happen by aligning the height of one's gaze and the temperature of the finishing materials. SPACEBASE installed a separate podium and secured sightlines so that a presenter could make eye contact and interact even with employees seated in the very back. When people can see each other's eyes, psychological distance shrinks and conversation starts to flow. In addition, soft fabric was used for the chairs and benches, and warm-toned solid wood throughout the space, to heighten the sense of psychological safety. This kind of soft materiality breaks down employees' unconscious guardedness and becomes an effective device that draws out more honest and creative stories.

The Town Hall Strategy for Large Offices Over 660 m²

When designing a town hall for a large office over 660 m² (200 pyeong), it's important to compose the space with a fitting sense of density. This image is a lounge project for 'Today's House,' handled by SPACEBASE's head designer.

Not an Empty Plaza, but a Dense Space

When designing a town hall in a large office over 660 m² (200 pyeong), the biggest thing to guard against is the space looking empty and scattered simply because it's large. To solve this, SPACEBASE uses a strategy of adjusting 'visual density'. Rather than just filling the area with furniture, the zones are planned in fine detail so the space can serve a variety of uses. It's composed with rich variety through zoning that accommodates a range of group sizes — from seats where one person can focus to a lounge where several people collaborate. The space is also designed so that sightlines are distributed three-dimensionally by varying floor levels or adjusting the heights of furniture. The various levels (highs and lows) created this way make a large space feel full and provide a rich sense of spaciousness.

By planning a variety of zones within the lounge and adjusting the distribution of sightlines through differences such as floor levels, you can feel a rich sense of spaciousness. This image is a lounge project for 'Wanted,' handled by SPACEBASE's head designer.

The Art of 'Psychological Separation' Without Walls

Work areas and rest lounges are often separated, but given the communicative nature of a town hall, putting up a physical wall can feel confining. So SPACEBASE applies a method of separating spaces psychologically rather than with partitions. This means using different floor finishing materials for the work area and the lounge, or creating differences in ceiling design and height. These visual changes send employees a silent signal: "Common space begins here." Without any physical barrier, it draws a clear line between the characters of the spaces psychologically. As a result, you can maintain a sense of openness while securing both work focus and quality rest at once.

By varying the floor finishing materials, ceiling lighting, furniture arrangement, and more, you can distinguish spaces without any separate partition. This adds a sense of openness and versatile usability to the lounge. This image is a lounge project for 'Danggeun Market,' handled by SPACEBASE's head designer.

The Message a Company and Its CEO Convey Through Space

As an organization grows, it becomes harder for leadership to greet each and every employee in person. SPACEBASE believes that a large office lounge should take on exactly that role. To do so, it captures the company's identity and, beyond that, seeks to convey the important message the CEO wants to share. Through spatial design, the effort is to embed the leader's heart into the space — "Thank you for being here with us," "Thank you for your hard work again today." A comfortable sofa, warm lighting, and carefully placed greenery become a silent word of comfort to employees, and a message showing how much the company values its people.

A comfortable sofa, warm lighting, and carefully placed greenery become a silent word of comfort to employees, and a message showing how much the company values its people. This image is a lounge project for 'Yooncomms,' handled by SPACEBASE.

Offices Around 330 m²: Limited Floor Area, Maximized Efficiency

The 'STL' company lounge handled by SPACEBASE

A Lounge Strategy That Goes Beyond the 'Pantry'

An office of roughly 330 m² (100 pyeong) is a tricky scale to lay out. In the course of securing work areas, the lounge easily shrinks to little more than a pantry. But SPACEBASE works to secure as much lounge space for communication as possible, no matter how small. The cases of ENKI and STL expand the pantry concept so that it can also function as a lounge — designed to serve as a rest area day to day and a 'compact town hall' capable of company-wide meetings when needed. The key to overcoming the limits of a small floor area was introducing 'tiered benches'. Thanks to them, many people can be seated without setting up separate chairs, lowering the floor footprint while maximizing capacity.

SPACEBASE introduced 'tiered benches' so that even a small space could accommodate the entire team.

A 'Hidden Screen' Using the Ceiling

The more compact the space, the more it comes down to reducing 'wasted floor area.' Instead of the usual approach of projecting a beam onto the wall, SPACEBASE chose a 'ceiling-recessed motorized screen'. Projecting a beam onto a wall would require building a separate wall (screen wall) in front of the tiered benches, wasting that much floor area. SPACEBASE hid the screen in the ceiling, keeping a wide-open sense of openness day to day and lowering the screen only during meetings to ensure clarity in delivering information. It's a detail that reflects the determination not to waste even a single pyeong of space.

With a ceiling-recessed motorized screen, the screen is hidden in the ceiling, adding to the sense of openness and the space's usefulness as a meeting venue.

Proof More Certain Than Words: a '90% Renewal Rate'

Feedback on good spatial design shows up not in glowing praise but in clear numbers. For SPACEBASE, the most intuitive measure of success is whether a client returns to SPACEBASE when they grow and expand their office (move to a larger space). In fact, over 90% of the companies that have worked with SPACEBASE commission their next project with SPACEBASE again when they expand their office. This is clear evidence of deep satisfaction with SPACEBASE's solutions — ones that capture a company's culture and solve real problems even within a limited budget and space.

When the Space Changes, the Questions Begin.

A town hall meeting space is a company's 'plaza.' But simply gathering in a large space doesn't make anyone open up easily. That's exactly why, beyond functional convenience, we work through the height of one's gaze and consider soft materials and lighting, grounded in psychological theory.

Only when psychological safety that dissolves rigid tension and an openness that awakens free thinking are in place do employee participation and voluntary questions truly burst forth. It's the work of building a foundation that nurtures a healthy organizational culture, going beyond a simple lounge. If you need a town hall meeting space that holds your company's own distinct culture, think it through together with SPACEBASE.

*Except where otherwise noted, photos and design provided by SPACEBASE

Curious about space solutions that change the way you work?

👉 See the principles of creative office design