Contract furnishings provider, Hightower received multiple awards at NeoCon 2021, including IIDA's 'Best Small Showroom' (under 4,000 sf) and 'Best of Competition' for its newly designed Chicago showroom.
Humanscale welcomes Elizabeth Margles to its Marketing Division in the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Margles comes to Humanscale with twenty years of experience in design, fashion and retail and a background in public relations and advertising.
The exclusive relationship with Kontrol's BioCloud® Technology will provide real-time detection of airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 to help make workplaces safer as organizations return to the office.
New office designs are focused on ways to engage the employee by appealing to their senses and creating diverse workspaces. Increasingly, workers are seeking a better work environment and some would even settle for slightly less pay.
A happy employee is a loyal and productive employee. Is your office a great place to work? How about kick-starting the year with an office re-design that will maximize employee happiness and business performance?
Noise levels are one of the biggest sources of workplace complaints. As well as hampering productivity, prolonged exposure to even relatively low levels of office noise leads to elevated stress levels.
To tackle the growing levels of office noise complaints, we're looking at seven changes you can make to create a quieter office space for clients.
What’s to become of the traditional work office?
Is it possible that communications tools like Skype, Zoom.us and Google Hangouts will have the effect of making communal office spaces obsolete?
Is the day coming when organizations will redeploy workers to home offices – where they’ll have no commute, and the freedom to work all day in play clothes?
A few years ago, researchers at iconic furniture maker, Herman Miller, began a deep-dive into the future of the global workplace driven by the desire to answer questions like these. Clearly, technology already makes it possible for many people to work away from conventional offices. The question is whether that’s ultimately the best thing for workers, not to mention the companies that employ them.
This month, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) opened its doors to its latest office in what’s been described as the new heart of New York; namely, the up-and-coming Hudson Yards development. Thought leaders from the world of workplace design including a representative from including Workplace Insight were invited to the launch of the new workspace to find out how the world’s leading advisor on business strategy has pushed the art and science of workplace design. BCG, which is consistently ranked near the top of Fortune’s annual Best Companies to Work For survey, worked with an array of experts for input into the design and use of innovative technologies, including Gensler, Humanyze and Cordless Group. Leesman was brought in to offer a neutral, objective voice when the project was already in motion to validate the design proposal.
Change in the property market is slow to respond to how many businesses now operate today, with flexible contracts and varied headcounts. Why? Well the property market assumes ‘quirky’ offices are a fashion statement relevant primarily to the tech industry and concentrated in a few hot spots like East London’s Tech City.
Advice on what to build to satisfy the rental market is dominated by traditional valuation based assessment by men in blue suits using formulas that are as much out of date as their choice of uniform.
Price per square foot returns has led to the architectural world producing office buildings that neither aspire or inspire; indeed aside from fancy external cladding on the odd crazy high rise, their role appears to be limited to conspiring with the construction industry to produce bland and predictably soulless buildings. The experience of working in such office buildings is not improved by funky reception furniture and free tea and coffee either. Comparing images recording the transitional stages of offices over the last 100 years raises the question: how much better is the experience today?
Here’s a question for the C-suite crowd: How do you think about change management as it relates to your company’s workspace? When you move, undertake a renovation, or pursue an FF&E upgrade, do you have a system in place to regularly communicate the reasons for the change, what it will entail, and how the new office will operate?
These days, we’re seeing increased focus on the engaged employee as a happy and productive one. Part of that engagement involves the physical environment and significant changes to it. When companies invest in their workspaces, it’s vital that employees are excited about the changes and comfortable with the new environment. That engagement is the best way to ensure a return on the investment.
We’ve all been there. You’re crashing on a last minute project at work and the person next to you is going on about their plans for the weekend, clearly not getting the hint that you’re in the thick of it. So what do you do? Pop in those ear buds and not so subtly say, “I’m busy!”
This scenario is becoming more and more common as offices transition to open floor plans and shared workspaces. While the majority of today’s workers welcome collaboration and open communication there will always be a place for focused, individual work. So, how do organizations accommodate these different needs? Start by identifying the different work styles within your office.
First, let’s define what constitutes a poor acoustic environment. According to this report, it could mean a couple different things. Number one: That the office contains unwanted noise or distractions such as the traffic outside or unsettling background sounds indoors, like phones ringing. And No. 2, there is too much quiet. To quote the review:
“By creating quiet you end up with a library, a place where you can hear a pin drop, when someone coughs it shatters the silence, if someone dare speak everyone is listening whether interested or not in the content of the conversation. You know the office is too quiet when people leave the office to make phone calls and this is a common occurrence.”
The solution, on the most basic level, to create an environment of audio comfort is to amplify some sounds (example: speech) while minimizing others (like background noise, traffic). Reaching audio comfort will supposedly increase productivity in the workplace.
In today’s connected world, the perfect workspace could be anywhere. Yes, the old adage says it’s all about location, location, location, but once you’re in a working environment, it’s all about design. These 5 design elements can determine, not only, the aesthetic and vibe of a workspace, but also influence employee productivity, engagement, and satisfaction.
Businesses should adopt teams of ‘workplace guardians’ to curate work spaces that support employee wellbeing and overall business performance, international support services and construction group Interserve has said.
The findings come as part of a new study from the company, Designing and delivering effective workplace experiences – a practical guide, which calls on businesses to shift their focus away from functional issues, such as cost per square metre, and towards the productivity boost that can be delivered through well-designed work spaces which engage employees and make them feel valued.
Interserve’s report sets out a six-stage programme for businesses to create effective workplace experiences which it says should be led by a team of experienced workplace coordinators or ‘guardians’ – a process that sees workplaces shaped by employees, for employees.
Adding garden design to commercial buildings will bring color, texture, light, fresh air, and the warmth and comfort of growing, living plants into a space. They can also improve the energy efficiency and carbon footprint of the building.
For interior green spaces to be healthy, they need light and water. Many growing mediums are available that are lightweight and can support plant growth without soil, and designers have a huge range of tools and materials for designing indoor and outdoor commercial garden spaces.
Outdoor work spaces are becoming more viable and legitimate since workers have greater mobility and can connect virtually anywhere via WiFi. Designing and creating an outdoor space as an extension to your indoor workplace enables employee choice in where one works. Unfortunately, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American spends 93% of their life indoors – 87% in buildings and 6% in automobiles. Sounds like we need to get outside a bit more.
With the new year moving into full swing, the workplace design conversation has largely surrounded trends that will define 2017. As spaces that promote worker wellbeing particularly gain momentum, this month’s news aggregate explores how employee wellness will shape the modern office.
Understanding your office space is a lot like playing golf; there’s a lot of subtlety to it and there’s a lot that goes into it to do it well.
In commercial real estate, there are two main types of square feet: usable square feet and rentable square feet. Usable square feet is everything inside your office suite, and rentable square feet is everything that you pay rent on, including the building’s common spaces and corridors.
Current workspaces focus a lot more on “we” space than “me” space. In today’s workplace, individual workspaces are getting smaller and shared workplaces, such as casual meeting areas, lounge areas, cafes, and social zones, are getting larger. This is partially due to team-based education, which is driving the workplace of the future.
Visit to Listen:
The concept of healthy buildings has been a growing priority since awareness of sick building syndrome (SBS) emerged in the 1970s. Designers and architects are increasingly shaping interior environments to improve the health and wellness of building users. Building certification standards, such as the WELL Building Standard, have responded to define pillars and measurements to certify the performance of building facets that impact health and wellness.
The push to make buildings more sustainable is nothing new, as the industry has largely embraced the growing trend. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification system is the most well-known name in the space, as there are more than 59,000 LEED-certified projects totaling 6 billion square feet in 164 countries.
For those up to a more rigorous, holistic endeavor, there is the International Living Future Institute's Living Building Challenge. Candidates navigate requirements such as the incorporation of biophilic components, the building site's impact on neighboring buildings and the environment and its ability to produce as much — or more — energy than it consumes. The cost-savings component of that program has struck a chord with private and public entities alike.
However, another trend related to sustainability is making waves in the industry: wellness. Although less definable than energy-efficient measures, wellness-minded design is growing in popularity as younger generations are pushing for healthier environments in their workplaces and homes.
Take a moment and describe what comes to mind when you think of a modern room. Your brain may conjure up images of thin, sleek furniture, and minimalist decor. Now, instead of thinking about the room, turn your thoughts to the modern man or modern woman. He or she may be rushing to the next meeting, all while preparing mental talking points, answering a text message and having a “casual” yet critical off-line conversation with a co-worker. Is your image of a modern room supporting the modern worker?
When designing spaces for today’s employee, the best result is human-centered, a workplace crafted to mentally excite and engage, physically comfort and emotionally support busy workers. Mobile technologies promised workers the ability to be productive on the go. But it’s not enough. Needs for collaboration, team building and individual focus are just a few of the reasons employees are coming back to the office. The elevated importance of the workplace is creating an office renaissance.
The office of the future is most commonly seen as the habitat of Millennials. But there are all sorts of flaws in this assumption. Apart from the casual stereotyping of a diverse demographic of people, the most glaring is the fact that the workforce is ageing rather than getting younger, and that most offices must now meet the needs of a wider range of age groups than at any time in their history. A new report from Totaljobs seeks to redress the balance in this regard. It suggests that some of the key features of the office of the future will not be slides and ping pong tables but flexible working areas, quiet spaces, spas and private medical rooms. The study claims that the fixation with Millennials means that a large number of older workers now feel that the design of offices does not meet their needs.
The study claims that over a third (35 percent) of workers aged over 45 feel that employers’ provisions for people their age are ‘non-existent’, and almost half believe that workplaces ‘naturally cater towards younger employees’. The research involved interviews with over 2,000 working people over 45. The most pressing concerns identified in the study were health issues (30 percent), being out of touch with technology (27 percent) and being unable to learn new things as quickly (24 percent).
OMG! Where’s my desk?
Sound familiar? Maybe the phrase lands a little too close to home for you or someone you know. It does for me because my business is the business of change and how it affects people in the workplace — especially new work environments, most of which are being designed without desks for everyone.
But maybe change is exactly what we need — a little more “OMG!” in our lives to shake us up — so we can force ourselves to take back control and choose where and how we want to work. Maybe having a desk or not having a desk is not the issue. Maybe it has something more to do with our attitude. We see a change coming in people’s perspective and a new freedom of choice, replacing the thought of “losing something”.
For the past six years, Dean Strombom and I have spoken at NeoCon and we have had the fortunate experience of standing room crowds, which is more a testament to the timeliness of the topics and not to our smooth delivery. The topics are messy and require different points of entry: some serious, some humorous, some evidence-based — and all of them require each person listening to consider, Do I have this notion of workplace change right? Even if I do, is it the right thing to do? Should we give up our personal workspace or was it even ours in the first place?
Via workdesign.com [paywall]
Healthy and sustainable construction became a trillion-dollar industry in 2016, and it’s doubling every three years. But while sustainable design is fairly backed by data supporting its impact and ROI, wellness is much more intangible, and workplace experts don’t agree on the so-called proof behind it.
“Anyone who says they can give you specific data proving that a given wellness measure works — I’d be skeptical,” said Nina Charnotskaia, who leads all of CBRE’s workplace research efforts in the Americas. Ask a room full of architects, developers, workplace strategists or HR heads where well-being fits into the built environment, and you’d be hard pressed to find a single one who thinks wellness isn’t a valuable strategy. But likewise, few believe all wellness practices have tangible benefits.
