PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION
BY MIKE HUNTER
GET REAL
Axway’s Agile Work Environment With more than 300 employees locally and 2,000 globally, and celebrating its 20th anniversary, Axway, Inc. — an information technology company providing enterprise software, business analytics, mobile app development and API management — has relocated to a new North Scottsdale office location at 16220 N. Scottsdale Rd., Suite 500. The new office space has been designed around the “agile work environment” concept, eliminating enclosed offices and high-walled cubicles and, instead, offering employees the flexibility to work how and where they choose and providing the technology to do so. This includes
Office Design Trends as WFH Becomes the Norm
Photo courtesy of Fulton Homes
Dramatic shifts in the everyday lives of homebuyers have caused families to rethink a onceoverlooked, private working corridor: the home office. In fact, the home office does not only benefit the “worker.” Recent months have shown that many different family members can end up at home for unknown periods of time, using different devices to keep up-to-date with schooling, friends and families. Fulton Homes, Arizona’s largest family-owned and -operated homebuilder, and the Fulton Homes Design Center, are seeing an increase in homebuyers’ “must haves” as it relates to home offices. “As a homebuilder, we usually see trends as they are evolving in the early stages,” says Dennis Webb, vice president of operations for Fulton Homes. “Employers are adapting to having remote employees, and the workforce is basically able to live wherever they want at this point. The challenges of daily commutes and in-person meetings don’t play as much of a factor.” The following are the three top trends. A “Zoom Room” is top on the trend list, as many are spending a lot more time working from home. When the telecommunication revolution ramped up in March, companies were forced to hold all meetings via virtual videoconferencing platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.) and many employees’ home offices were not up to par. Home offices with a “Zoom-centric” focus — including an area with good lighting and videoconference-friendly backdrops — help facilitate a good first impression when people are working with others they have not met in person but only in a small, square window. Trendy, professional backgrounds growing in popularity are bookshelves, subway tiles and plant-filled oases. Lighting and technology are also important. Having proper lighting in home offices is a high priority, as poor lighting can cause reduced energy, dampened morale and increased eyestrain. Indirect and adjustable lighting fixtures are trendy additions to home offices — LED lightbulbs are good; a high CRI ring light is better; but natural light is best, according to the team’s experts. Speedy internet connectivity throughout the home is key, and begins with finding the perfect location for a router within a home office. In a home office, soundproofing is a must-have, considering today’s teleconference-centric environment. Background noise can cause unfavorable meeting experiences, so buyers are investing in soundproofing technologies via individual office walls and carpeted flooring, noted for sound absorption. The next pivot in home office design trends may be having dual offices. With two (or more) family members working from home, schooling from home and spending more than half their waking hours there, the need for customized, separate office spaces is near.
the Griffin App — which Axway has open-sourced for the benefit of others (see the Technology page, page 22, of this edition) — a major feature of which is an office scheduling assistant. In physical design, the office’s neighborhood hubs and way-finding tools are incorporated throughout the 54,000 square foot space that is defined by creative graphics and meeting rooms named to reflect a “technological evolution through the ages” concept. Amenities include a work café sit/stand workstations, collaboration and social areas for impromptu team meetings, and modern meeting rooms that includes a high-tech conferencing center. The new workspace also offers focus and privacy areas — including a Library for quiet and focused work — as well as a showcase innovation lab for customers to fully experience what the company has to offer. axway.com
Tempe Building One of Largest 2020 Office Sales in Southwest U.S. Lincoln Property Company’s Class AA Grand2 office building in Tempe, Ariz., has sold, becoming the largest office sale to close in the state in 2020 and one of the top five office sales to close in 2020 in the Southwestern United States. The building buyer is Apex Capital Investments Corporation, a U.S.-based real estate investment management firm with a track record of core-plus, valueadd and opportunistic investment strategies across asset classes. Grand2 represents the company’s first-ever Arizona office purchase. Grand2 was completed in late 2019 by LPC Desert West, the Southwest regional office of Lincoln Property Company (LPC), in partnership with Goldman Sachs MBD Real Estate. Upon completion, Grand2 ranked as one of Arizona’s largestever purely speculative office buildings and was almost immediately leased by San Francisco-based, on-demand
Fulton Homes fultonhomes.com
food platform DoorDash with a full-building, long-term
Fulton Homes Design Center fultonhomes.com/design-center
commitment. lpcdesertwest.com
MAXIMUM ZOOM To look one’s best while videoconferencing, a flattering angle is key. The best practice is to set up the camera at a height even with one’s hairline, a reasonable distance from the face, then angling down toward the eyes.
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JAN. 2021
INBUSINESSPHX.COM
