Executive Office Interior Design: MD Rooms and Boardrooms

The MD’s room and the boardroom are the most expensive rooms per square foot on most office floors. Yet they are often planned last, from a mood board.

Most guides to executive office interior design focus on looks: dark timber, a statement table, a feature wall behind the desk. This one covers what decides whether those rooms work: privacy, real use and rent.

It is written for MDs and office managers in Malaysia planning a new office or a refit. CTN Interior Solutions has designed and built offices in Malaysia since 2001, including boardrooms and chairman’s suites.

The short video below, from an audio engineer, explains why so many boardrooms sound poor on video calls and how room finishes fix it.

1. What Does Executive Office Interior Design Cover?

Quick Answer: Executive office interior design covers the rooms used by top management: the MD or CEO office, a chairman’s suite where one exists, and the boardroom. It also covers the support spaces around them, such as the PA station, a private waiting area and sometimes a private pantry or washroom.

These rooms are often handled as a separate package. A good office fit-out plan treats them as part of one floor, because their walls, ducts and cabling connect to everything else.

In shoplots and converted industrial units, the suite is often the upper floor above operations, as our guide to industrial office design for Malaysian shoplots and floors shows.

2. How Big Should an MD Office Be?

Quick Answer: Size an MD office by what happens inside it. A room for desk work and calls can be compact; add a four-seat table and it roughly doubles. Rooms sized for status often end up oversized while real meetings move elsewhere.

List what the MD actually does in the room each week:

• Desk work and video calls only. A desk, a credenza and two visitor chairs; no table.
• Daily one-to-ones. Add a round table for four, where most private talks happen.
• Hosting senior visitors. A sofa corner can replace the table; don’t build both by default.
• Confidential HR or board matters. These need the walls described in section 4.

Private offices are also coming back. The HubStar Hybrid Occupancy Index 2025–2026 found that enclosed offices rose from 4% of workspaces in 2023 to 10% in 2025 across 173 buildings in 13 countries. Leaders who gave up rooms in open-plan moves, discussed in our piece on open, hybrid and activity-based office concepts, often want them back.

3. Do Boardrooms Get Used Enough to Justify Their Size?

Quick Answer: Usually not. In HubStar’s 2025–26 study, 64% of meetings took place in rooms for four people or fewer, and rooms for 17 or more people hosted under 4% of bookings. When large rooms were used, they were only 11.6% full on average.

A 20-seat boardroom that mostly hosts two or three people is a costly way to hold small meetings. Small rooms, meanwhile, are often taken by one person on a video call.

Board meetings and pitches still need a formal room. A better brief is a boardroom that splits in two with an acoustic operable wall. Coworking operators solve the same problem by selling rooms by the hour, as explained in our coworking space interior design guide for Malaysian operators.

4. What Makes an Executive Office Truly Private?

Quick Answer: Privacy depends on how the walls, ceiling and ducts are built. US government office guidance asks for walls rated about STC 45 around executive rooms that need confidential speech. Ordinary private offices need STC 40, and video-conference rooms STC 53.

The GSA’s Sound Matters guide also warns that a closed door does not guarantee a private conversation. Common leaks in Malaysian offices:

• Partitions that stop at the false ceiling. Confidential rooms need walls up to the slab, or a ceiling barrier.
• Shared air-conditioning ducts. A return-air path carries voices; ask for lined ducts or cross-talk silencers.
• Single-glazed glass fronts. Glass often leaks more than a solid wall; use laminated or double glazing.
• Ungasketed doors. A gap under the door undoes a good wall; specify seals.

Our article on light, air and acoustics in commercial offices covers these trade-offs, including sound masking.

5. How Big Should a Boardroom Be for 8 to 20 People?

Quick Answer: In our modelled layouts, an 8-seat boardroom needs about 240 sq ft and a 20-seat room about 450 sq ft, before any side seating or AV cabinet. At an average Kuala Lumpur rent of RM6.88 per sq ft a month, that is roughly RM19,800 to RM37,200 a year in rent alone.

Real rooms grow once a credenza or side seating is added. Two points stand out:

• Each extra four seats adds roughly 60 to 90 sq ft. That is RM5,000 to RM7,400 a year at JLL’s Q2 2026 average rent, every year of the lease.
• Long tables are poor for video calls. People at the far end look tiny on camera. Beyond about 16 seats, a U-shape or a split room often works better.

Before signing a lease, ask your designer to test the boardroom on the real floor plate, as explained in our guide to office space test-fits before you lease.

6. What Technology Does a Modern Boardroom Need?

Quick Answer: A modern boardroom needs a screen readable from the far seat, a camera that frames everyone, good microphones, sound-absorbing finishes and power at the table. Most meetings now include remote attendees, so the room must work for them too.

The weakest link is usually sound. Glass, stone and timber bounce speech around, so remote listeners hear echo. The GSA guide targets about half a second of reverberation for video rooms.

Plan cabling before the table is ordered. For hybrid teams, our office interior solutions for hybrid work article goes further.

7. What Does an Executive Suite Cost in Kuala Lumpur Rent?

Quick Answer: In our model, a 750 sq ft executive zone (a 300 sq ft MD room, a 12-seat boardroom and a PA and waiting area) costs about RM61,900 a year at JLL’s Q2 2026 average Kuala Lumpur rent. At Knight Frank’s prime rents, the same zone rose from RM52,560 to RM55,080 between late 2023 and early 2026.

Knight Frank reports that Kuala Lumpur prime rents rose from RM5.84 per sq ft a month in Q4 2023 to RM6.12 in Q1 2026, while vacancy fell from 31.3% to 22.1%. JLL’s wider average sat at RM6.88 in Q2 2026. Rising rents make every square foot of the executive suite more expensive each time a lease is renewed.

The suite should earn its space:

• Let others book the boardroom when the board is not meeting.
• Give the MD room a meeting table so small meetings need no second room.
• Drop the private pantry or washroom unless the building makes shared ones awkward.

For the wider budget, see our complete guide to office interior design in Malaysia.

8. Where Should the MD Office Sit on the Floor?

Quick Answer: Place the MD office near reception and the boardroom so guests do not cross the open floor, away from noisy pantries, and out of strong west-facing sun. Many Malaysian owners also weigh feng shui when choosing the position.

The best-view corner is not always best: west-facing glass brings afternoon heat and glare. Weigh:

• Visitor route. Reception, PA and boardroom on a short, private path.
• Team contact. A visible MD may prefer a glass front near the teams, with blinds.
• Sun and heat. North or south light is softer than east or west.
• Personal preferences. Feng shui or a solid wall behind the desk are common requests; plan for them early.

Finishes then express the brand; see our guides to corporate office materials that last and brand in every room.

9. How to Plan an Executive Suite Step by Step

Quick Answer: Start with how leaders actually work and meet, then set privacy levels, size each room, test the layout, plan technology early and agree on sharing rules. Finishes and furniture come last, once rooms are the right size and in the right place.

1. Log real use: Track two to four weeks of the MD’s meetings and the boardroom’s bookings, including headcount.
2. Set privacy levels: Decide which rooms need confidential privacy and brief the wall, door and duct details.
3. Size each room: Size the MD room for its activities and the boardroom for the most common meeting size.
4. Test on the floor plan: Lay out two options on the real floor plate and compare visitor routes, daylight and rent.
5. Plan AV and cabling: Fix screen, camera, microphone and floor-box positions before ordering tables or flooring.
6. Agree on sharing rules: Decide who can book the boardroom and MD meeting table when leaders are out.

For examples of how executive rooms fit within whole floors, see our floor plan examples for 10, 30 and 50 staff.

10. Conclusion: Design Executive Rooms for How Leaders Work

Quick Answer: The best executive offices are private where they need to be, sized for real meetings and built for video calls. Finishes signal status, but walls, acoustics and layout decide whether the rooms are used well.

Strong executive office interior design starts with use and privacy, then layers on brand and finishes. When you are ready to plan yours, our office fit-out team can take it from the first layout to handover.

11. Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the typical size of an MD office in Malaysia?

It depends on use. A room for desk work and calls can be compact, while one with a four-seat meeting table is roughly twice the size.

2. How much space does a 12-seat boardroom need?

In our modelled layout, about 300 sq ft, with a 5.1 m by 1.2 m table and space to walk behind the chairs.

3. How do I make an MD office soundproof?

Take the walls up to the slab, seal the door, line or baffle shared ducts and use laminated or double glazing. US government guidance suggests walls of about STC 45 for confidential rooms.

4. Is a boardroom still needed with hybrid work?

Most firms still need one formal room for board meetings, pitches and large video calls. Many now choose a smaller or dividable boardroom because large rooms are rarely full.

5. What does executive office interior design include?

It covers the MD or CEO office, chairman’s suite, boardroom, PA station and waiting area, including layout, acoustics, lighting, technology, furniture and finishes.