Competition.  We all know that word, whether in terms of projects we’re trying to win or our favorite basketball team.  And we can probably agree that a healthy amount of competition can be a good thing – drives us forward, causes us to focus, challenges us, and introduces us to new ideas.  Well, how about when one of your biggest competitors (ahem…SOM) wins a competition to design a new “Silicon Valley” in New York City?  How does THAT make you feel? 
In late 2011, Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology – with SOM and Field Operations (designed the High Line in NYC) – won a competition run by NYC’s administrative office under Michael Bloomberg to repurpose a portion of Roosevelt Island.  The winning proposal included 2.5 million square feet total, with technology focused on NYC-centric industries such as medicine, finance, and advertising, and endowments for start-up companies.  What is particularly attractive about the campus, however, is that the proposal centered the 2,500-student academic institution around central “hubs” (see Fast Company for the animations of the space) and expansive, open areas organized by interest, not by discipline, to foster the exchange of ideas.  Polish it off with interwoven public spaces to serve the academic and general population and a net-zero goal for each of the academic buildings, and you have a pretty great recipe.  Or, at least one good enough to garner the attention of Bloomberg anc Cornell alumni alike. 
Understanding how people work, how ideas are shared, and how environments affect the [...]

HOK recently completed new offices for Avon at 777 Third Avenue.  Settled into their new space- artwork hung and final painting complete- I had the pleasure of joining Avon in welcoming reporters for a little tour and chat as they presented the building for the first time. 
The space is crisp, pearlescent and beautiful all while tracking LEED-CI Gold. After the reporter’s questions, I had a chance to talk with a few Avon employees and they’re thrilled with the new digs! Don’t just take my word for it, here’s a roundup of what others had to say and share from the event:
Contract Magazine Online http://www.contractdesign.com/contract/news/Avon-Debuts-Sustaina-5953.shtml
Inhabitat New York City http://inhabitat.com/nyc/avons-new-leed-seeking-headquarters-showcase-the-companys-commitment-to-sustainability/
GreenBiz.com http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/09/14/pink-hats-build-gold-tower-inside-avons-new-leed-gold-hq?page=0%2C0
The Real Deal Online http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/avon-produces-opens-first-leed-certified-cosmetics-hq-in-manhattan-at-777-third-avenue-moving-from-1251-sixth-avenue
Getty Images http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/124955669/GettyImagesNews
World Interior Design Network http://www.worldinteriordesignnetwork.com/news/avon_opens_green_headquarters_in_manhattan_110916/
 

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Lately I can’t seem to escape discussions about wellness in the workplace. In the past few weeks I’ve received several wellness related articles  from colleagues, witnessed real life issues onsite with clients and helped kick off a firm wide wellness initiative in my own firm. There are definitely enough issues surrounding this topic to turn this into a series of posts, but for now I will focus on sitting and walking in the workplace.
A colleague recently sent me these great infographics: Sitting is Killing You, highlighting some interesting statistics on the detriments of sitting for prolonged periods of time, fueling the argument to get up and walk around throughout the day. Personally, I hate the idea of sitting at a desk all day. I jump at any chance to walk across the office to talk with a colleauge. Not only does it add a few extra steps to my day, but often I can be more productive by engaging with a coworker face-to-face as opposed to long email chains which I’ll eventually have to go back and delete when cleaning out my inbox.

Adding to this discussion, HOK recently launced on Facebook what we are hoping to be The World’s Largest Workplace Survey. This is a great open forum to provide input on how well or not-so-well your workplace is performing. Join the dicussion by taking the survey here. The chart below shows some recent realtime survey results, indicating that an overwhelming amount of people complain about some physical discomfort in the workplace.

And in [...]

Last year the HOK Chicago Interiors Group completed an office relocation project for Millward Brown, a leading global research agency. One of the main goals of the project was to make sure the branding of the space worked with the overall brand values of the company but also maintained a local identity to the Chicago market and their specific location. Millward Brown is a very youthful, creative and highly collaborative organization, and the physical space, amenities and branding all needed to reflect that culture.
The final workplace soultion is a very open plan with a variety of collaboration spaces,  reduced amount of materials,  youthful, energizing graphics and several areas for employees to kick back and relax, including a fully loaded Wii Rock Band area. It’s a great mix of a laid back, jeans-wearing culture with some very slick, sophisticated amenities for clients and visitors of all varieties.
The project was recently featured in an article in Interiors & Sources Magazine. Check out the article here.

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Welcome to the next installment of our work+place history. Today we feature a recent bit of history – our own Jim Rice was featured last week in the Atlanta Business Chronicle…and not about his work…this time Jim was featured for his work+commuting.  Check out some information on Jim’s passion: read the ABC Article.
If you have some time to read some more HOK workplace history, check our previous posts:

Work+Place History (2): The Leader 
Work+Place History (3): Facilitating Change
Work+Place History (4): True Collaboration
Work+Place History (5): Working Abroad
Work+Place History (6): Going Green

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With more than $290 billion in assets and approximately 55,000 employees, PNC is one of the largest financial services companies in the country. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PNC also has more LEED certified buildings than any other company on Earth. When it opened in 2001, PNC’s Firstside Center in downtown Pittsburgh was the nation’s largest corporate green building at 650,000 square feet. And with the recent opening of PNC Place in Washington, D.C., PNC currently has over 100 LEED certified projects in its real estate portfolio. Gary Saulson, Director of Corporate Real Estate for the PNC Financial Services Group, is responsible for the direction of PNC’s sustainable strategies. Overseeing approximately 30 million square feet of commercial real estate, Saulson has impressively helped transform PNC into an industry leader in corporate sustainability. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Saulson about PNC’s sustainable and workplace strategies.  
“Our simple task is to build environments where employees can thrive and customers can do their business”, says Saulson, who explains that PNC has an internal Product Review Committee that tests and reviews all products that go into their offices. The Product Review Committee is represented by people from across the bank: including people involved in Operations, Energy, Sustainability and Finance. They also work with manufacturers to beta test products, including conference tables, chairs, light fixtures, restroom faucets and hand dryers.   
Saulson believes it makes good business sense to “do our homework” on the products they purchase and implement into their workplace standards. He explained to [...]

Welcome to the next installment of our work+place history. Today we feature Cagri Kanver’s 2009 contribution to Medical Tourism Magazine. 
Cagri shared that overall cost and related benefits of green building can be achieved for any organization by implementing sustainable initiatives. In the article, he offers a model for measuring the economic value of green including an environmental benefit evaluation.
Read the article: Going Green – New Words in a New World
If you have some time to read some more HOK workplace history, check our previous posts:

Work+Place History (2): The Leader 
Work+Place History (3): Facilitating Change
Work+Place History (4): True Collaboration
Work+Place History (5): Working Abroad

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One of the reasons we started Work+Place was to share HOK’s workplace expertise – developed over the past 15-or-so years.  While our experts have been sharing their latest and greatest thinking – everything from the obesity epidemic and the impacts of Mexican drug cartels on the workplace to research, potty humor, and workplace pranks, we thought it might be fun to dig back into the annals of HOK’s workplace experience and see what we could find. 
As you can see from the graphic above, we’ve had lots of experience with single project and full accounts, giving our team a rich set of data to mine.  This post is the first in a series highlighting our thought leadership through publications.  Keep an eye out and see what we’ve said and how our thinking has evolved.

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Healthy Workplace
I was reading the Trust for Public Health’s annual report titled “F as in Fat”, which reveals some sobering statistics about America’s obesity and diabetes rates among adults and children. According to the study, adult obesity rates increased in 28 states. 38 states have adult obesity rates over 25%. What’s startling is that in 1991 no state had a rate above 20%.

I recently had the pleasure of being invited on a trip to the Haworth corporate headquarters in Holland, Michigan. The environment at One Haworth Center embodies the company’s commitment to good design and sustainability. We were able to meet with members of their “Ideation Group” who explained aspects of the research they perform finding ways to see how the built environment affects people. Scientific research has found that the arrangement of furniture and interior space affects human behavior. Haworth wants to change people positively. The company uses a variety of research tools including: psychology of existing workspace, organizational culture, social network analysis, and individual work style analysis. Haworth also looks at the different types of organizational cultures which are: collaborative, creative, controlling, and competitive. All together the visit was educational, enjoyable, and truly inspiring.

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