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.
Anyone following the $5 billion product development known as Apple Park–the company’s new 175-acre development on which a 2.8-million square foot Norman Foster spaceship has officially landed–will want to read the latest feature in Wired, which takes the closest look yet at the “insane” attention to detail within the campus.
The American Insurance Association tapped CallisonRTKL to transition their office from a suburban office park to an urban, sustainable, collaborative home. The new office space increases employee collaboration through an open office plan and acts as a center that celebrates the past, present and future of the organization. Their new office design reflects AIA’s mission by creating an active environment that enables openness and transparency while maintaining their humble demeanor.
An open office can prompt collaboration—or awkward silence. When employees have nowhere to work privately, it’s time for a new look at workplace design.
Apple Inc. employees last month began testing the company’s latest innovation: Apple Park, one of history’s most expensive corporate campuses and the leading example of the tech industry’s newfound love for splashy architecture.
When Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was looking to create a New York City headquarters with tomorrow in mind, they had a number of simultaneous objectives: How do you make a space inviting? How do you encourage BCG alumni in the area to stop by? To get nonprofit clients to hold board meetings at the new location? To encourage existing consultants on different projects to share ideas? Here's how BCG did it…
Architects increasingly embrace the idea that they play a role in fostering good health by designing buildings that make it easier for occupants to make positive lifestyle choices such as moving during the day, absorbing natural light and eating healthy food. POLITICO asked Matt Welker, who promotes healthy building design at the American Institute of Architects, to pick five of his favorite buildings and explain what makes them good at making you healthier.
With a rich history dating back to 1905, American Greetings was in need of a new headquarters that would carry the business into the next century. After deciding to relocate its 1,600 employees from Brooklyn to Westlake, Ohio, the company looked to CallisonRTKL to design a facility that would be an expression of their corporate culture and character, with both a deep respect for the American Greetings history and a view to the future of the industry. At over 60,000 SM, the new headquarters is a truly modern workplace with space for offices, meeting rooms, photo studios, showrooms and a large courtyard.
When you think ‘Asian’ what comes to mind? Perhaps your favorite Asian food, or curved roofs on exotic pagodas, or perhaps the martial arts?
Asia, or as it’s sometimes called, ‘The Far East’ has had a profound influence on many aspects of Western life, not the least on the interior design of contemporary office space.
However, the Asian influence on Western design isn’t a new phenomena. Centuries ago, that intrepid trader / explorer / adventurer, Marco Polo, became fascinated by Asian design and decor and began bringing samples back to the West. It wasn’t long before European designers were making use of lacquer, fretting, oriental motifs and rich fabrics in their interior designs.
There’s a lot of chatter about the “cool” office spaces we all envy a little – the ones with gaming areas, nap nooks and fully-stocked kitchens. But what is the line between a fun, collaborative office space and one that’s too lax and distracts employees from being productive?
Companies, of course, want to be perceived as established and financially healthy – and the amenities you offer employees can help you accomplish that, while creating the kind of atmosphere job-seekers envy. But you can’t just throw up a basketball hoop and tell your employees go play without some ground rules first. Before diving headfirst into the ballpit, so to speak, company leaders should ask themselves what they are trying to achieve with what they offer, and how they’re going to manage these spaces, as well as expectations.
As successive BCO Specification Guides and the research of organisations like CoreNet Global have proved, the spatial dynamics of offices have changed dramatically in recent years. Put simply, the modern office serves significantly more people per square foot than ever before. Originally this tightening was largely down to the growing ubiquity of flat screen and the mobile devices, but more recently the major driver of change appears to be the gradual disappearance of personal workstations in favour of more shared space.The typical space allocated to an individual in a building has shrunk dramatically in the last few years, while the provision of public and meeting space has increased. The upshot is that the amount of personal space allocated to each individual in a building has fallen by over a fifth in just a few years and the very idea of using the number of employees to determine their individual space requirements without other considerations seems less relevant.
Is there too much co-working space? Has the super-stripped-back office had its day? With the British Council of Offices Conference taking place this week, the AJ asked some of the nation’s leading office designers for their answers
There are few better bellwethers of the state of the office development industry than the mood and topics of discussion at the annual BCO Conference.
Work environments that are designed to make employees feel connected, functional and emotionally fulfilled can increase their productivity. Spaces that employees rejuvenate in can lead to an overall improved disposition. One of the findings in the Steelcase Global Report is that employee engagement correlates directly with workplace satisfaction.
Recent research into hot-desking — the sharing approach that’s found a home in countless co-working spaces — revealed “flexible” and “activity-based” office arrangements could actually hurt, rather than help, employee trust and satisfaction, it raised questions about whether the most popular office setups are the most effective.
Blending Tradition and High Tech in the Finance Workplace
The finance sector continues to transform as it adapts to several, major forces, including altering regulations, consumers’ increased use of digital banking and demands for increased cybersecurity. Following the 2008 recession, large financial institutions changed where they focus their investment dollars, namely less in personal lending and more in wealth management and investment banking. Also, consumers’ expectations that transactions can happen anywhere, anytime, means institutions must attract and retain a variety of tech workers and compete with top tech companies for talent. Meanwhile, emerging financial technology, or fintech, companies continue to research and develop digital solutions to nearly every aspect of banking and finance, often partnering with larger firms and companies.
In the growing Austin technology industry, Bazaarvoice had outgrown its current space. Its environment lacked the capacity to accommodate growth as well as support the way its people wanted to work. Culture, a critical component at Bazaarvoice, was a concern among employees who feared the future office would not capture the startup energy that defined the company’s history and values. At the same time, Bazaarvoice needed to make cost effective decisions, balancing its future space, location, and building decisions in a manner that exceeded its employees’ expectations while demonstrating prudent real estate planning.
The terms “workplace” and “culture” are almost synonymous in today’s business vernacular. Companies devote countless hours, resources, and strategies to defining and implementing distinct workplace cultures that support their goals, build their brands, and affect every aspect of the work environment—including the power to attract, engage, inspire, and retain talent. Culture may not always mean a static end game; instead it may be a shifting variable that is encouraging change and aligning with new behaviors and productivity. Take Google for example, “…Google doesn’t view their culture as a “set it and forget it” program. They’re actively changing and maintaining it, because it’s crucial to their success. “
Steelcase has been in business for more than 100 years, creating places that unlock human promise for the world’s leading organizations. But what motivates our company and clients isn’t our products and what they can do — we’re motivated by people and what we can do together.
Actions form the foundation of culture, and we believe building a strong, sustainable business depends on getting culture right. We’re committed to unlocking human promise by moving from words to action and pursuing sustainability initiatives built on inclusion.
Over the past year, I’ve had numerous conversations with clients about how to hire, inspire and retain their millennial employees. It seems many leaders I work are struggling to find the “right” answer, but there are as many answers to this question as there are industries, offices and jobs.
At Arrowstreet Architecture and Design, we think outside the box, literally, when it comes to coworking. In fact, we’re proud to have designed one of the most dynamic coworking space networks in the United States: Brooklyn Boulders (BKB), which features productive environments for users to work and mingle amongst a series of climbing walls. BKB outposts are now active in a variety of old and new spaces, from a converted warehouse in Somerville, Mass. to a luxury residential building in Long Island City, N.Y.
When you think of corporate communications, you probably picture traditional channels ranging from public relations, advertising, and social media to staff newsletters, intranets, and similar channels.
Now look around you. Chances are, you’re looking at a powerful communications platform that businesses often overlook: their very own workplace.
Nowadays, when you walk into a store that’s filled with static imagery, it doesn’t feel alive. That’s because sweeping technological advances have created a digital world where we expect well-designed spaces to offer dynamic, interactive experiences that immerse us fully in a brand. Why should our expectations be any different for the workplace?
