PRESENTED BY
TUESDAY APRIL 27, 2021
The Upfront
The Office of the future is outdoors
Office life is about to move outdoors.
In buildings across the country, new and renovated offices are being designed to include more options for workers to get away from their desks and go outside. According to designers, developers, and landlords, it’s an emerging trend that could shake up the way workplaces look and feel for years to come.
“Access to daylight, good fresh air—those kinds of things are really tangible to the tenants,” says Marc Fairbrother, vice president of the architecture firm CallisonRTKL. “We are headed in those directions where it’s more about the user experience than efficiency and the cost of the product.”
CallisonRTKL has several projects in the works that are putting a premium on outdoor space. Common building amenities such as fitness centers and ground-floor cafés are being augmented with new spaces for outdoor breaks and even outdoor working. One project currently in the works, a new office building in Arlington, Virginia, for the global construction company Skanska, includes a variety of outdoor spaces throughout the building. At street level, there’s a quarter-acre parklike space with seating and shaded areas that can be used by the public or by office workers. On the roof, there’s a large patio space, with various seating options that can function as lunchtime getaways, informal working areas, or spots for open-air presentations. The roof also includes an enclosed central conference room that can host both formal board meetings and after-hours cocktail receptions.
They even added outdoor spaces on a part of the office that has traditionally been unpopular. “The second floor, which is always the hardest to lease in office space, is where we put the terraces,” says Fairbrother.
Another of the firm’s projects, an office building in Tulsa that’s slated to open in 2023, was designed to include terraces on every floor. CallisonRTKL principal Dallas Branch says it’s a new approach, and one that the designers had to tinker with before it felt right. “We’re not used to seeing that in offices. When we first laid it out, it seemed like a residential building because it looked like we had balconies everywhere,” says Branch. “We had to tweak the design a bit to keep that office building look.” As a result, every floor will have about 1,500 square feet of terrace space for the tenants.
The move toward the outdoors has been underway for years, but unlike in the past, this new generation of outdoor spaces is less about escape than about adding new types of spaces for people to work and interact in.
“In the early days, these were meant more for social gatherings, but you’re starting to see even the idea of outdoor conference rooms,” says Matt Weir, of the New York-based developer and landlord Taconic Partners. “You’re laying out furniture, you’re creating privacy with greenery, you’re creating alcoves where you can put a table and folks could have a board meeting or a presentation.”
“You’re seeing the office layout function migrate to these outdoor spaces,” says Weir.
Taconic is now finishing up several projects in New York that embrace this. One is the renovation of 440 9th Avenue, a building from 1927 with distinctive wedding cake-style setbacks on its upper floors. To create more of a connection to these preexisting outdoor spaces, Taconic has added NanaWalls, sliding and folding walls that can be opened.
Adding these kinds of spaces can be expensive, Weir says. For new rooftop spaces, elevator shafts have to be extended, as do emergency stairwells to meet fire and safety codes. New shading and planters may also require structural renovations to support the additional weight. But in many instances, the costs of adding these spaces can be offset with higher rents. “The buildings that provide these spaces certainly carry a premium versus buildings that don’t,” says Weir. “And I think it’s becoming one of those standard, check-the-box things that tenants are looking for. If you’re not able to provide this, you’re at a competitive disadvantage.”
BuzziSpace to close High Point HQ
Belgian furniture maker BuzziSpace is closing its North American headquarters in High Point.
The company will vacate 1200 Redding Drive by the time its lease on the historic mill building where it’s been since 2014 expires on June 30, according to Dwain Skeen, a commercial Realtor who represents the owner of the property.
“They’re in the process of moving out and consolidating in some other spaces,” Skeen said. “Their manufacturing is, I think, essentially going back to Europe.”
Representatives of BuzziSpace and its parent company, Haworth, did not respond to repeated requests for comment from hpenews.com.
The 115-year-old, 105,000-square-foot building, best known as the former Pickett Cotton Mill, is for sale.
BuzziSpace came to High Point in 2014 with much fanfare.
Then-Gov. Pat McCrory made the announcement at City Hall that the company had picked High Point for the North American headquarters of its office furniture manufacturing operations.
BuzziSpace planned to create 113 jobs and invest more than $1.75 million over five years, McCrory announced.
The city touted the project as an important revitalization boost for the southwestern part of town, which once was the industrial core of High Point but has long struggled with blight and crime as furniture and textile companies closed.
Haworth in January closed its longtime seating manufacturing plant on English Road in High Point.
The Pickett building sits on 5.4 acres, and the entire property, which includes two smaller structures, is on the market for $1.95 million.
Bid the Office Adieu and Say Hello to the Innovator's Guild
Even before COVID-19, advancements in technology, and the rise in popularity of coworking concepts, the traditional office was long overdue for a rebrand. The global pandemic has accelerated the office renaissance in a way we never thought possible. The typical, nine to five workday is slowly evolving, tech giants are extending their work-from-home policies into 2022 and beyond, and business leaders are rethinking their long-term leases across their portfolios.
So, what is the burning question for business owners and CEOs across the country? What is the future office? The office has been around for as long as we can remember. It has always been used as a collective place for a group of people with a common goal to complete their tasks, but now, never-before-seen cultural shifts will change the office forever.
Now that we trust employees can work virtually from anywhere, the office must shift from a forced landing place to a spontaneous gathering spot for groups of like-minded thinkers and doers – all set out to meet one common goal. The mission, vision, and values of the organization they work for.
In an era of remote working, professionals are re-evaluating and adapting to their new work lifestyle. While operating from the comfort of their living rooms, home offices, and even nearby coffee shops, it’s easy for some to become disconnected from that common goal they once shared with their colleagues. And more people imagine a world of freelance and independent working, making it more important than ever to cultivate an inspiring company culture and design a dynamic environment people want to return to.
We’re calling it the Innovator’s Guild, the rebranded office, and the place employees choose to go at their leisure, instead of being a requirement five days a week. The Innovator’s Guild resembles social clubs of the past – inspiring and stimulating environments where members pay to have access to the space itself and the other members in the group. Eliminating the elitism associated with social clubs, our depiction is an environment that is exclusive rather than exclusionary. Rather than the silly concept of charging employees to use the office space, the Innovator’s Guild is part of the employment package. It is a place the employee always has access to, more like a work perk. So how does this rebranded office look?
Workplace Metrics: Here Are 5 You Must Adopt Now
According to JLL, 70 percent of workplace metrics that companies track in the next three years will be non-traditional, and there may be no area more greatly affected by these sudden changes than the physical workplace.
That’s because it’s not just that the way people work – or where they work – that will influence the way companies operate moving forward. Just as important will be how they analyze their own investments and the way their staff interact with that space.
Historically, companies have understood real estate performance through the lens of operational efficiency, measured by total operating costs and cost per square foot. But with the emergence of hybrid work, old equations for measuring the optimal value of a square foot change.
Let’s explore five workplace metrics that will be key to determining which real estate measurements will achieve desirable and sustainable long-term outcomes.
1. Predictive Capacity
Before the pandemic, our internal data showed that offices had already dropped below 40 percent utilization on average. We now expect that more than 30 percent of staff may work remotely full-time after the pandemic (vs. three percent previously), and that most will operate in a hybrid role. Taken together, the pressure to address under-utilization is incredible.
While the office will continue to play an irreplaceable role as a place to dream, build, collaborate and socialize – or just get out of the house for a few hours – organizations will have to think hard about how to optimize existing space. With many reports consistently revealing workers are missing in-person meetings and opportunities to socialize with colleagues face-to-face, focusing on collaborative workspaces is a way to do that. Even so, it’ll be easy to overspend or misallocate real estate investments if accurate estimations of true space requirements aren’t available.
That’s why companies must position actual utilization as the primary method for measuring real estate performance. They must be really specific about the percentage of space that supports its primary function: collaboration.
To do so, they’ll need to identify, track and predict the precise number of people who use the office on a day-to-day basis (not necessarily who they are or how often they come in), and how much space they need to foster the maximum amount of collaboration and productivity. This is especially important as traditional long-term office leases end and new negotiations begin.
ABI March 2021: Recovery in architecture firm billings continues to accelerate
Business conditions at architecture firms continued their turnaround in March, with a strong ABI score of 55.6 for the month (a score over 50 indicates billings growth), as an even larger share of firms reported an increase in their billings than in February. In addition, inquiries into new work and the value of new design contracts both continued to rise, as an increasing number of clients are not only shopping projects around, but also signing contracts to begin new work. Backlogs at firms also rose dramatically from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021, growing by nearly an entire month from 5.3 to 6.1 months. This is nearly back to the pre-pandemic peak of 6.5 months and means that firms have a solid supply of work in the pipeline if the economy falters in the coming months.
Architecture firms in all regions of the country also reported improving business conditions in March, even those in the Northeast, which had seen weaker conditions even prior to the pandemic. Billings were strongest at firms located in the Midwest and South, with those in the Midwest reporting particularly strong growth following a soft winter, partially due to harsh weather conditions. In addition, firms of all specializations reported billings growth this month, with the highest rate of growth reported by firms with commercial/industrial and institutional specializations, the two sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. Some firms are even reporting that their leisure and hospitality projects are starting to come back to life, as more people are vaccinated and start going out and traveling again.
An optimistic outlook
March was also a strong month in the broader economy, with nonfarm payroll employment adding 916,000 new positions, largely in the leisure and hospitality, education, and construction sectors. Notably, the construction sector added 110,000 new jobs, following a loss of 56,000 in February that was likely due to the severe winter weather. Architectural services employment data lags by a month, but the most recent available data tells us that 1,100 new jobs were added in February, rising to a total of 191,400 employees in the sector. While this is still 7,800 positions below the pre-pandemic peak one year ago, more than half of the 16,000 jobs that were lost in 2020 have since been added back.
And in the latest edition of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report, released on April 14, the overall national sentiment was broadly positive, as economic activity generally accelerated at a modest pace from late February through early April. The outlook was also more optimistic overall, largely due to the rapid increase in vaccinations. Tourism was one area of notable improvement, likely due to spring break, with increased demand for leisure activities and travel. In most areas of the country demand remained high and prices continued to increase for single-family homes, notably in the Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco Districts. Commercial real estate and construction activity was more mixed, with many districts reporting that the hotel, office, and retail sectors remain weak, although stronger construction growth was reported in the Minneapolis District.
Architecture firm employment remains steady
This month’s special practice questions asked firms about how head count at their firm has changed over the last year due to the pandemic. Responding firms reported an average decline of 1.7% in total staff head count at their firm from January 2020 to today. Nearly half of responding firms (48%) indicated that their head count was about the same as last year, while 31% reported that it declined, and 21% reported that it increased. A larger share of firms in the Northeast (41%) and with a commercial/industrial specialization (39%) reported a decline, as this was the region and sector hardest hit by the pandemic. On the other hand, more firms in the West (25%) and with a multifamily residential specialization (30%) saw an overall increase in staff in the last year.
Firms were also asked to indicate how staff levels in specific position categories changed from January 2020 to today. Overall, firms reported a slightly larger net decline in non-licensed architectural design professional and nontechnical (non-billable) staff positions than for other position categories. Most firms reported that head count for all position categories remained about the same over the last year, with slightly more firms reporting a decrease than reported an increase. The closest split was for emerging professionals on the path to licensure, where 21.9% of firms reported an increase in head count and just slightly more, 22.3%, reported a decrease. Firms also reported a close split for other design professionals, which includes positions like interior designers and engineers, where 15.5% of firms reported an increase, versus 18.1% that reported a decrease.
Workspaces-on-demand are on the increase
Co-working space budgets for individual employees will become a post-pandemic norm, according to a survey by WeWork. The companies already doing so have picked their partners based on location rather than pre-pandemic perks like on-tap beer and social gatherings.
Of the 1,000 c-suite executives WeWork surveyed, 76% said they plan to give their employees a stipend to work from home or a co-working space, despite 64% of the 1,000 employees surveyed saying they’d personally pay for access to office space in a location of their choice.
Location was the main motivator in determining a preferred space over other benefits, according to corporate users of co-working spaces across the media and marketing industry that Digiday spoke to for this article.
“The social aspects may become more important, but at the moment we’re focusing on being convenient and useful,” said Georgina Shipp, operations lead at advertising, media and music specialist Truant, which began funding co-working space for its staff last summer.
The London-based agency has forged an official partnership with Soho Works because of its footprint across the city. It’s considering expanding into other membership spaces based on staff demand. Several staff members who live by the south coast of the U.K. have also been given the option of access to similar spaces in that area.
“Around half of the agency has made use of our co-working space. They speak of just having a break from being at home, enjoying seeing other co-workers in the spaces, and of the mental health benefits,” said Shipp.
London and New York-based Capital Business Media, which publishes titles like Business Matters and Fund Manager Today, has funded co-working spaces for staff since it first adopted remote working in 2012 ahead of the London Olympics.
The company has a formal arrangement with workspace provider Regus, but it also encourages staff to support local spaces near their homes, dealing with contracts and payments directly or via an individual’s company credit card. Staff, some of whom also live by the U.K. coast, want convenience, and the buzz of an office, according to Capital Business Media’s managing director Richard Alvin.
What to do if you're planning to work remotely permanently
The “next normal” is officially setting in, especially when it comes to remote work. Simform’s 2021 Remote Work Survey found that 82% of surveyed companies plan to allow their employees to work from home indefinitely and 77% want to make this a permanent solution.
Even some of the largest corporations in the world such as Facebook, Spotify, Microsoft, Salesforce, Twitter, and Slack have rolled out plans for a long-term remote workforce beyond just 2021.
Working from home is convenient, but it can also lead to unproductive habits. If you’ve struggled to work from home for this past year, now is the time to start settling into it so you can feel good and productive in your new work environment.
Shift from, “This is just for a while,” to “This is my new normal,” with these simple strategies.
Physical shifts for permanent remote work
How will you create a space to work from home permanently? How will you set up your days knowing you’re not going back to the office? Here are a few key details to consider.
Establish a morning routine for structure
A repetitive, consistent daily routine can help to increase motivation and goal orientation which boosts overall performance the PeerJ Journal suggests. Creating rituals is a simple way to build structure into the day’s workflow.
One time this is most valuable is in the morning. It can be tempting to roll out of bed and onto your computer—or bring it into bed with you—but this can affect your performance. Some energy-boosting morning rituals might include:
Changing into office-appropriate clothes
Checking in with a friend or family member to prevent social isolation.
Writing a to-list or journal your goals for each day
Separate your workspace from the rest of your home
As you adjust to WFH on a permanent basis, it’s helpful to shift from the couch or kitchen table to a designated workspace or home office that’s separate from other rooms in your house. In fact, 43 percent of employees find that a dedicated workspace boosts their productivity at home, according to a recent survey from The Manifest.
Apple To Develop $1B Campus As Part Of New $430B Commitment To U.S. Investments
Apple is planning to invest $1B to start development of a new R&D campus in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina. The company didn't offer details on the size of the campus, but it did say it would support at least 3,000 new machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering and other tech jobs.
The development is part of plans for $430B in investments and the addition of 20,000 new jobs over the next five years, Apple announced on Monday. That total will include direct spending with U.S. suppliers, data center investments and other capital expenditures in the U.S., including on a number of facilities for Apple TV+ product in 20 states.
Apple has a market capitalization of more than $2 trillion. During its first fiscal quarter of 2021, which ended Dec. 26, 2020, the company posted all-time record revenues of $111.4B, up 21% year-over-year.
By most metrics, the Research Triangle — the area between Duke University in Durham, North Carolina State University in Raleigh and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — is one of the leading R&D markets in the nation. Business Facilities magazine’s 2020 Metro Rankings Report ranked Raleigh No. 1 on its list of GDP leaders in midsized metro markets. Raleigh came in at No. 6 among U.S. tech hub growth leaders and ranked as the No. 7 magnet for millennials, with Raleigh-Durham No. 7 for startup ecosystems.
Apple also said it will establish a $100M fund to support schools and other organizations in the greater Raleigh-Durham area and statewide. The company will also contribute over $110M in infrastructure spending to North Carolina counties, with the funds going toward broadband, roads and bridges, and public schools.
The announcement comes at a time of intense scrutiny of Apple and other tech giants for alleged monopolistic behavior. Last Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights held the latest in a string of hearings on the industry, specifically about app stores run by Apple and Google.
The investment announcement also came immediately after the tech giant announced a raft of new products, including a new lineup of iMacs, iPad Pros, a new Apple TV, a new iPhone 12 and 12 mini, and a new Podcasts app, among others, Tech Crunch reports.
Office Is On a Slow Slog to Recovery
The office market is showing renewed signs of life as firms evaluate and implement return-to-work strategies, with average leasing rates inching up 1.4% year-over-year to an average of $38.67 per square foot.
Manhattan remained the priciest market nationwide, with an average listing rate of $85.82 per square foot, followed by San Francisco, with average rates of $69.66 per square foot. The overall Bay Area market came in third, posting rates of $57.11 per square foot, the highest average full-service equivalent listing rate across the markets analyzed by CommercialEdge in a new report.
Salone del Mobile "in the balance" says mayor of Milan
Milan mayor Beppe Sala has urged Italian brands to support the Salone del Mobile after the resignation of the fair's president threw plans for the September event into chaos.
Sala warned that Milan could lose its position as the world's leading city for design unless brands rally in support of the fair.
He said this year's edition is "in the balance" amid rumours that leading brands have refused to take booths at the fair over concerns that foreign visitors will stay away.
Luti's resignation "not a good sign"
In a video posted on his Instagram account, Sala waved a letter from Italian president Sergio Mattarella, confirming that he would be attending the opening of the Salone del Mobile, which is scheduled to take place on 5 September.
"Salone del Mobile, however, is in the balance, due to the perceived unavailability of some exhibitors to be there and yesterday's resignation of president Claudio Luti are certainly not a good sign," Sala said, according to La Repubblica.
He called on "the operators of the world of the Salone del Mobile and the world of furniture" to support the fair.
Otherwise, he warned, Milan could lose its position as home to the world's biggest and most important furniture fair.
Sala "cannot allow" Milan to lose its design crown
"Let's be careful, because it is not so obvious that there are no other European cities that can face these difficulties to enter and claim an important role in design," he said. "As mayor of Milan, I cannot allow it."
The fair's president Luti resigned yesterday, saying his vision for September's event "has failed".
The news saw shares in Fiera Milano, the exhibition centre that hosts the annual fair, drop eight per cent, according to Milano Finanza.
In his resignation statement, Luti hinted at the failure of key brands to "team up" to ensure the success of the fair.
"I respect everyone's decisions but I do not share the desire not to team up in such a delicate moment and to at least give up trying to define a concrete path to do what could be the symbol of the country's recovery," Luti said.
"I certainly recognise the difficulties and also the unknowns that prevent us now from clarifying all the uncertainties given by the still looming pandemic scenario. But what matters to me is the common will of purpose, which has failed."
"No decisions have yet been taken"
The annual Salone del Mobile is the world's biggest and most important furniture fair, attracting 386,236 visitors from 181 countries when it was last held in 2019.
The fair, and the parallel fuorisalone events that take place across the city, are of vital economic importance to Milan, bringing an estimated €1.3 billion to its economy each year.
Earlier this month, sixteen design platforms that host fuorisalone events vowed that their shows will take place regardless of what happens to Salone del Mobile.
Salone del Mobile was postponed from its usual April slot to September due to the coronavirus last November. It is now scheduled to take place from 5 to 10 September.
In a statement issued last week, Salone del Mobile said: "No decisions have yet been taken as to the organisation of the Salone del Mobile Milano 2021. The company's board of directors will meet in the next few days to discuss all future plans."
Gary Wheeler of ASID: ‘Interior design is at a crossroads’
When Gary Wheeler was a college student, he went to a conference for no other reason than his favorite professor told him to—and it ended up shaping the direction of his entire career. The gathering, a student meetup for the organization that would eventually become the American Society of Interior Designers, was modest: 28 people attended. But it was the right 28 people. “Since then, every key thing in my career—every job, every major friend in the profession, most of my contacts—has had a direct connection to the ASID,” Wheeler tells Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast.
Now Wheeler is the CEO of the organization at a much different time. Some things are better—hundreds of students attend the conferences—but there are new challenges, as well. Wheeler took over as interim CEO last June, stepping into the role in the thick of the pandemic and during a critical juncture in America’s reckoning on racial inequity. He’s hopeful that the change and upheaval of the moment will be pivotal for the industry.
“Not only has the door been opened, it’s been blown off its hinges. Interior designers deal with the individual, with the human—with their mental health, their wellness, their happiness, their inclusion,” he says. “We make spaces where people want to be, and feel safe and comfortable. This is our opportunity, and if our profession doesn’t leap through this opening and lead coming out of the pandemic, shame on us.”
There are more quotidian concerns, as well. ASID, with roughly 23,000 members spanning both commercial and residential design, is spread out across 46 chapters. It’s a challenge, to say the least, staying abreast of the needs of such a wide-ranging group of professionals with such complex needs. Then there’s the goal of keeping every chapter relevant, when, as Wheeler says, there’s always a danger of each becoming clique-ish, like a fraternity or sorority, as opposed to a dues-paying professional development organization.
That’s inside the organization. It’s also a challenge to continually prove the value of design to the outside world when designers are still frequently called “pillow fluffers,” says Wheeler. But if there’s any moment in history almost tailor-made to drive home the importance of design—especially residential design—it’s now. “Residential is going to be strong for the next two years,” he says. “This is their moment to shine.”
Workspace designers consider multigenerational needs of employees
The Generation Z workforce — once thought of as craving the opportunity to work from home, where they find flexibility and freedom from the watchful eye of a superior — happens to be the demographic that is most eager to return to the office.
Researchers at West Michigan-based office furniture and design companies that track how generational differences are affecting workspaces have found that not only are younger workers eager to return to the office after being cast away by the COVID-19 pandemic, but their approach to work and the amenities they value are also shaping the modern office.
“In some ways, it might be surprising: The younger generations are so social that I think they like coming to the workplace to connect and they love the sense of being around others and building on and learning from each other and the older generations,” said John Hamilton, global design director for Coalesse, a Grand Rapids-based manufacturer of contemporary office furniture that is owned by Steelcase Inc.
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing many employees to work from home for the last year, companies were left to reimagine what their workplaces should look like and how employees will utilize these spaces. Each of the four generations in today’s workforce are having a say in that evolution.
Gen Z struggles at home
With a giant swath of employees still stuck in the work-from-home format, conferencing with their colleagues and clients via video chat, one thing is becoming clear: The younger generations place value on the office, and they need it to develop professionally.
“They’re wanting to grow and develop,” Hamilton said. “You want to be around other people and want to be learning from the older people that can show you the ropes, and you want it to rub off on you. The only place that works well is at the workplace.”
A study released last month by Microsoft shows that 60 percent of Gen Z workers — people born between 1996 and 2010 — said they are either struggling or simply surviving under the work-from-home format.
Gen Z respondents to the study admitted to finding difficulties engaging with their colleagues and were overall unexcited about work. This was true for Gen Z more so than the three other generations.
Beck Johnson, senior research specialist for Holland-based Haworth Inc., and her team started a research program a couple of years ago that focuses on Gen Z and are slowly building trend data through the program.
Johnson echoed Hamilton’s sentiments that Gen Z is looking to be around other people in order to collaborate and learn.
“They’re heavily leaning into and seeking a lot more mentorship from their colleagues, their supervisors and managers, where Gen Xers were more like, ‘I don’t need a supervisor, I can get my work done,’” Johnson said. “Gen Z is really craving that relationship because they’re really keen on learning from folks who have been through things before.”
Out of Haworth’s research, both flexibility and mental health carry a lot of weight with Gen Z.
A desire for both structure and flexibility leads to open, collaborative workspaces with pockets for one-on-one meetings.
Transform Your Walls + Acoustics With Felt Right
Felt Right’s felt tiles and boards are fun and full of potential, and it’s difficult to think otherwise after talking to the man behind the vision, Talley Goodson. Founded in 2020, Felt Right helps you create customized spaces that look and sound great. Made from high-quality PET with at least 50% recycled content, each colorful tile and board has a beautiful wool-like appearance.
Offices, classrooms and kid’s rooms are great places to use these easy to clean pieces. And while Felt Right aims to improve your wall decor, there are plenty of uses outside the box: pin boards, headboards and recording studios to name a few. Tiles on a single wall will noticeably improve on a room’s overall acoustics, perfect for drowning out loud neighbors or your own noise. Felt Right pieces are easy to install and require minimal tools, each tile or board is affixed to the wall with adhesive tabs and can be moved and reattached if you’d like to change things up.
You’re probably thinking it would be easy to get overwhelmed with 26 colors, several shapes and sizes of pieces and endless design possibilities. Thankfully, Felt Right spent a lot of time creating its easy-to-use platform that allows you to buy as is, edit existing designs or start from scratch. You’ll also find customer submitted layouts that might help get your own juices flowing.
One Workplace Offices – Santa Clara
One Workplace created a greater sense of shared workspace for their offices located in Santa Clara, California.
In 2017, One Workplace was faced with the need to expand. While this fast-growing company was adding staff, the way their employees were working had also changed. Adding real estate was one option, but reconsidering the way they used their existing space was an essential first step.
One Workplace began by building a new way for employees to work that relied on greater use of shared workspaces supported by a variety of flexible settings. This provided a richer work experience and a sense of urtonomy – the ability to choose when and how people used these work settings.
Because their building has a high-bay shell, they looked up instead of out. One Workplace took advantage of this vertical space, creating a two-story loft using a new approach to building with heavy timber construction by Calgary-based DIRTT.
With the CNC controlled fabrication method at the center of DIRTT’s technology, One Workplace designers were able to create a structure that is visually engaging and functionally diverse. For design inspiration, they looked to the agricultural past of Santa Clara. While the fabrication method referenced historic heavy timber construction, the loft echoes the farms and orchards that once made the area famous. Below the loft, a suite of individual focus rooms evoke the feeling of resting in the shade of apricot trees with a treehouse workspace above.
This prefabricated cabin with customization for remote working is a must have home office to survive 2021
Working from home has forced many of us to rethink our workspaces. While some of us are dying to be back in the office, the rest of us are looking forward to a future home office renovation. Either way, the era of COVID-19 has brought forth some creative home office solutions that might outlast any future mandate. Adding their prefabricated home office design to mix, My Home Office is a standalone workspace situated anywhere with a paved surface for remote, isolated working.
Initially, My Home Office was designed and created by Cosmas Bronsgeest to have a workspace stationed in his family’s yard that could remain a place where he could retreat for quiet and concentration amidst all the chaos of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. The all-season prefab office is clad with FSC-certified larch wood and stands fully insulated with an RC value of 5.4. As currently designed, My Home Office features one larger model that comes equipped with everything from a fold-out bed to a sit-and-stand desk and a smaller model that comes complete with a fixed desk and outdoor lamp.
From the outside, the cabin’s natural look warms up the yard, and the fully glazed windows offer a peek of what’s inside. The sharp triangular frame borders floor-to-ceiling windows that merge the surrounding yard with the office’s working space for a workday spent close to nature. Inside, owners can work at the unit’s fixed desk, or choose to tack on an additional working desk, fold-out bed, or even a shower and toilet attachment. Depending on your own needs, each unit can be customized as the owner sees fit.
In most cases, due to the prefabricated office’s small size, owners will not need a permit for placement in their yard. Built with a plug-and-play design, once My Home Office is anchored to the ground, owners can power up the cabin by plugging in the supplied power adapter through the cabin’s wall-mounted 240V, weatherproof IP44 socket. And just like that, a new home office awaits.
Designer: My Home Office x Cosmas Bronsgeest
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