CLIPS March 2006

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VOLUME 16 MARCH 2006

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT DESIGNER FORUM DESIGN CULTURE TRENDS BUILDINGS

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FURNITURE HEALTH SOHO OFFICE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY CASE STUDY

81 S. 9th St. Suite 350 Minneapolis, MN 55402 Ph 612-343-0868 Fx 612-332-5733 Toll Free 888-333-4664 Green Bay, WI 920-884-0265 Madison, WI 608-257-0521 Wausau, WI 715-849-3131 Rockford, IL 815-398-3300 targetcommercialinteriors.com

Š 2006 Target Commercial Interiors

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From the President With 2006 well underway, we at Target Commercial Interiors feel a real sense of optimism and momentum regarding both our business and our industry. Thanks to our growing family of valued clients, we just completed an exceptionally good year. In addition to increased sales, we are most pleased with the successful launch of our first retail store in Bloomington. This store – part of our strategy to better serve smaller to medium sized businesses – continues to perform ahead of expectations.

In this spirit of continuous improvement, we are introducing a new look to our popular publication CLIPS. Target Stores have long had a reputation for bringing affordable design to its valued guests. We felt it would be highly appropriate to add an element of design to CLIPS to reinforce our belief in this important component of our business.

To complement the new look, we would like to begin using CLIPS as a forum to encourage an ongoing dialogue about design. We’ll invite various designers within our professional network to use this forum to present their insights, ideas and beliefs about the place and direction that design takes in our professional pursuits.

We are pleased to feature our own Rich Varda – Target’s Vice President, Store Design – in this inaugural issue.

One further addition. To celebrate our collaborative work with our clients and our partnering A. and D. firms, we want to feature recent commercial interiors finished work in our Case Study page.

We hope you enjoy these new additions to CLIPS. As always, please contact John Jurgensen (John.Jurgensen@target.com) for full text articles or any questions or comments you have about CLIPS or Target Commercial Interiors.

Best regards Joe Perdew, President

The Kingdom Centre - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Rich Varda, FAIA, ASLA

designer

Vice President, Store Design • Target Corporation Rich Varda oversees an internal corporate team of 237 staff professionals that are responsible for maintaining and modifying the multiple Target store prototypes - including fixtures, store plans, interior design, architecture and engineering.

Before joining Target in 2001, Mr.Varda served as a Principal and lead designer at RSP Architects for three years and at Ellerbe Becket for 15 years. Projects where Mr. Varda led the design total over $1.5 billion in construction value. These include corporate offices, hotels, mixed-use centers, academic buildings and convention centers.

Mr. Varda has received over 25 awards for design excellence from the American Institute of Architects and other industry programs. He holds an NCARB certificate and is a registered architect in 9 states. He received a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Architecture from the University of Minnesota. Most recently, Mr. Varda was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) – an honor awarded to members who have made significant contributions to the profession.

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Prior to Target, Mr. Varda’s largest project was the Kingdom Centre for HRH Prince Al Waleed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, completed in 2002. This $750,000,000 mixed-use complex includes a Four Seasons Hotel, a three-level shopping mall and a 1,000 foot high, 'world icon', mixed-use tower.

Target Financial Services Tempe, Arizona

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Rich Varda

forum

Early in our development as designers, we realized that effective, successful design in any discipline depends on much more than a simple combination of shape, color and scale. Designing for lasting impact requires a considerable understanding of both human behavior and knowledge of what has previously been created.

Our ability to perceive meaning comes from two sources - instinctive reactions programmed by evolution, and memories from life experiences.

Every act of recognition provokes primary and secondary perceptions tied to memories and instinctive associations. To create a design composition that transmits a message with accuracy and predictability to the largest body of intended observers, one must understand how visual patterns are recognized and what meanings are most universally understood by their association with familiar sources.

Cognitive Psychology teaches us that there are several basic reactions to pattern stimuli. According to Dr. Melvin Konner in his book, The Tangled Wing, studies by Jean Piaget, Jerome Kagan, Philip Zelazo, and others have demonstrated these categories of reaction to pattern stimuli : 1. If an observed pattern is too similar to a familiar pattern stored in memory, then it will not arouse attention. We ignore it.

2. If an observed pattern is not similar to any remembered patterns, then it will arouse attention.

If, after examination, the pattern is still not understood, then it will create anxiety for the observer.

3. If an observed pattern is partially familiar and partially dissimilar to remembered patterns, then it will arouse attention, and if the nature of the dissimilarity can be understood by extension from known patterns, then pleasure will be felt.

The biological reaction that induces pleasure is what induces our inclination to learn - our natural curiosity.

We develop our potential to recognize and understand greater complexity and layers of meaning by incrementally building on familiar patterns. The power of designers to impart knowledge and satisfy basic emotional needs depends upon a sensitivity to what is familiar or dissimilar in order to attract interest and transmit an incrementally new idea.

Who ever said our job would be easy?!

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Creating Impact with Design

Office Space Tailored To Use

Julia Littleton

design

Central Penn Business Journal (Harrisburg); Jan 7, 2005 v21 i1 p3

Summary: A number of forward-looking companies are building working spaces that are customized for the way in which they are used – “open spaces for network operations staff, a separate area for the talkative marketing workers, and enclosed spaces in the human resources department, where privacy is important.” Additional strategies being used to maximize the efficiency of workspaces include setting aside shared space for conferences and “hotel” work spaces that can be used by a number of workers in the office for short periods of time.

The article notes some downsides to this resulting reduction in space allocated for each employee. On average, companies used to require four parking spots for every 1,000 square feet of office space; now they require five to seven spots per 1,000 square feet. The author is quick to point out, however, that employees themselves retain the same elbow room as before. Modular partitions have merely crept in to replace meeting space that has shifted to shared conference rooms, and record storage, which has either moved offsite or been scanned into computer files.

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Corner Offices Losing Their Cachet; Airy, Open Workspaces Gain Favor As A Way To Boost Morale, Communication Davis Bushnell Office Solutions; Jan/Feb, 2005 v22 i1 p26 Summary: This article addresses the continuing trend toward less formality in office floor plans that was begun by the ‘90s high-tech dot-com firms and now cuts across all industries. The emphasis, then and now, is on the need for increased collaboration between managers and staff and an enhanced capability to hold onto employees over the long term. The author explores the new egalitarian office designs adopted by Boston area firms like PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Genzyme Corp., and quotes a range of corporate officers who are universal in their praise of natural light and open spaces and their positive effects on office communication, morale and productivity.

Fence Sitter

Antonio R. Samson

culture

Business World (Manila); Aug 22, 2005, p1

Summary: Workplace civility is becoming a growing concern to managers. This author believes this phenomenon is due to the adverse impact of an exodus of talent from the “take no prisoners” corporate cultures of the ‘90s and ‘00s. The new metric of note is the “civility index.” Based on surveys of employee feelings about their companies, a low score makes it harder for companies to attract and keep talent.

Civility is a top-down learned behavior, and the author notes that a sure sign of how civil a company and its culture is can be found by examining the behavior of its executives. Their behavior towards subordinates is usually a reflection of how the CEO behaves toward his own subordinates.

“. . . focus on organizational behavior and reveal what work needs to be done to achieve a kinder, more civil workplace culture.”

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The article includes sample questions to ask employees that focus on organizational behavior and reveal what work needs to be done to achieve a kinder, more civil workplace culture.

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Maggie Overfelt

Office Of The Future

trends

FBS: Fortune Small Business; Jul/Aug, 2005, v15 i6 p29

Summary: The author of this article is interested in the effects of emerging technology on office productivity. She has studied a range of products being prototyped by companies like IBM, Steelcase and Microsoft and offers readers her take on the office technology of the future. Among her more interesting predictions: • Buildings that identify tenants as they arrive based on RFID tags in their cell phones, PDAs or watches and then alerts their computers to boot up as they walk through their doors.

• Wraparound computer screens [three times the width of a 17-inch monitor) being developed at Microsoft’s Center for Information Work.

• Desks that can call up images and text on their surfaces, which are imbedded with video displays and scanners.

• Fluorescent lights replaced by LEDs that are programmable to gradually change to match an employee’s mood or the level of daylight outside.

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trends

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Trend Spotting Is Flavor Of The Month. Predicting The Outcome Of The Battle Between Employees And Employers Over Flexibility At Work

Richard Donkin Summary: This article offers readers a look at the emerging landscape of Financial Times: Surveys Edition (London); Aug 11, 2005, p11 work. Based on the predictions found in “Working in the Twentyfirst Century” by Michael Moynagh and Richard Worsley, and the findings of the United Kingdom’s Economics and Social Research Council, the analysis is based upon the evidence of existing trends, not speculation about as yet undiscovered technologies or social changes.

As such there are few surprises and a dearth of spectacular speculations. Among the findings: • The 1990s vision of a workforce populated by greater numbers of freelancers and self-employed executives is contradicted here – employer-employee relationships remain largely unchanged, with full-time employment the norm. The prediction: this pattern will continue, with workers wanting stable employment for financial reasons and employers wanting a stable workforce.

• Flexibility will increase, but largely within the context of permanent jobs. It will take the form of teleworking, job sharing and flexible hours and will remain driven by market and employer needs.

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buildings Strategic Moves

Jeremy Myerson Management Today (London); Apr, 2005, p45

Summary: In 2003 the first MT Workspace Satisfaction Survey identified a considerable gap between the awareness of the benefits of better work environments and real action by companies to provide them. The author of this article asserts that there is no excuse for maintaining a “21st-century equivalent of a sweatshop” when workspace satisfaction can be achieved “simply by paying closer attention to the basics: lighting, air quality, sound proofing, external views, [and] breakout spaces away from the desk.”

A MT/ICM Research survey of 600 middle and senior managers reveals that managers are willing to make considerable sacrifices to get a well-designed workplace that is easy on the eyes, ears and lungs. Nearly half of respondents would forgo a week’s vacation; many would also give up four figures in salary or job benefits for a better work setting.

So what is holding companies back? The author points to a lack of evidence that supports a clear case for a better workspace. Heading the effort to provide a link between office design and business performance is a British consortium led by the British Counsel for Offices. The author notes the enormity of the linkage problem due to factors as varied as the volatile economic context and the sheer complexity of business practice. The consortium is currently focused on developing more discourse between developers, architects and the managers and employees who will work in the facilities.

The article ends with a look at several new workplace designs developed for small-, medium- and large-sized companies.

“Workspace satisfaction can be achieved ‘simply by paying closer attention to the basics: lighting, air quality, sound proofing, external views, [and] breakout spaces away from the desk.’”

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furniture

How Long Can You Stand To Sit?

Derek Timm Occupational Health & Safety; Sep, 2005, v74 i9 p162

Summary: According to a recent survey only one in four American office workers is at least somewhat familiar with the benefits and usage of ergonomic furniture. This article makes a strong case for the benefits to both employers and employees of integrating ergonomic furnishings into company floor plans. One of the more interesting points involves a major 2004 study by the Cornell University Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Laboratory that proves height-adjustable office furnishings significantly decrease aches, pains and muscle tension. Workers’ Compensation savings alone are said to more than justify the purchase of ergonomic office furnishings. According to the author, once the benefits of increased employee morale and productivity are factored in, the decision seems the only practical way to go.

This article provides insights into choosing the right ergonomic office equipment, including the features crucial to employee comfort and convenience. In particular, the author comes out strongly for new “sit-to-stand” work centers that allow users to alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day.

furniture The Office, Reimagined

Industrial Engineer; Aug, 2005, v37 i8 p66

Full Text: Copyright Institute of Industrial Engineers, Aug 2005

Mayo Clinic work environment gets employees moving. Visitors think they've walked into a gym.

"This is a fully functioning office. My entire staff works here," said James Levine, M.D., as he walks on a moving treadmill that serves as both desk and computer platform. "The idea is to introduce an environment that will encourage activity in the workplace. Just as it's hard to be a couch potato without a couch, it's hard to sit all day at work without a chair or a conventional desk or cubicle."

Taking a meeting here is literally about taking a walk: A two-lane track circles most of the 5,000-square-foot floor and suits small teams just fine. Only when a large group gets together do employees head for the conference room.

This scientifically designed office environment is the realization of a decade of research at Mayo Clinic. Levine, an endocrinologist, has spent his career studying how humans expend energy. His recent research findings show that people can increase their caloric burn rate by moving more on a regular basis.

The office redesign cost about $5 per square foot. The standing desks are about $1,000 each, but the room requires no other office furnishings and no cubicles. The result is an open, sunny space with 10 standing computer desks, each with a variable-speed treadmill. All employees wear mobile phones.

Every detail in this reimagined office contributes to the get-moving environment: magnetic white boards serve as walls near the track for scribbling notes during moving meetings, and all keyboarding, phoning, and thinking are done during some form of motion.

9 According to Levine, the concept can be modified to suit any work need.

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James Levine on the move at his desk

Turning Health On Its Head; Analyst: Lower Risk, Lower Bills

“Small businesses should spend less time trying to manage health care costs and more time reducing the risks that healthy employees will become sick.”

health

Albuquerque Journal, Sep 26, 2005, p1 Winthrop Quigley

Summary: A study from the University of Michigan’s Health Management Research Center, based on a detailed review of its vast database of employee health status and company healthcare spending, has determined that small businesses should spend less time trying to manage health care costs and more time reducing the risks that healthy employees will become sick. Among the findings highlighted in this article: • Workers with few health risk factors cost significantly less than workers with higher risk factors.

• Over time, most workers acquire more risk factors – e.g. exercise time, smoking status, weight and stress levels.

• A low-risk worker between ages 55 and 64 incurred an average annual medical cost of $2,941, while the average annual cost for a high-risk worker was $7,123.

Even more important than medical costs is the hit to company productivity when sick employees stay home or show up sick and perform poorly. Rather than pushing for high deductible insurance plans or cutting benefits, the article advises businesses “to manage people and the risks they take with their health.” The author goes further, stating that maintaining low risk health status should be part of a company’s mission statement, “with managers evaluated on their ability to create healthier work environments for their employees.” A list of risk-reducing ideas is provided.

Back Pain “Caused By Hot Desking” 10

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Evening Standard (London), Sep 6, 2005, p16 Full Text: Copyright Associated Newspapers Ltd. Sep 6, 2005

Hot desking, where more than one office worker uses a seat, is adding to Britain’s back pain crisis, a study claims.

The practice – popular within firms that rely on temporary workers who do not have permanent desks – is bad for people’s health, doctors fear.

A third of the 1,674 workers surveyed did not adjust seating or computers when switching desks, according to the British Chiropractic Association and office equipment supplier Targus.

They believe there could be a link as the same percentage of workers also suffers back pain.

Working Women Over 40 More Likely To Report “High” Stress Canada NewsWire, Aug 28, 2005, p1 Summary: This article declares that as gender ratios in the workplace become more even, and women take on more leadership roles, organizations must re-examine the mental health of their female employees to prevent burnout and absenteeism. In particular, firms are told to focus on specific coping skills for stress-related issues in working women over 40 years of age.

The survey report suggests that women be provided meaningful work and specific strategies such as proactive coping techniques and aspects of problem-solving therapy – cognitive and skill-building approaches that are proven to have a greater effect on women than traditional stress-management techniques.

health

A new study of nearly 228,000 employees shows that men and women experience different work and non-work issues. In particular, women over 40 have been found more likely to report high levels of stress, when compared to women under 40 and working men in general. Among the other findings reported in this article: • Women of all age groups are over 4% more likely to report “high” stress than men of all age groups.

• Women over 40 years-of-age reported more frequent work relationship conflict than their younger female counterparts.

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Ahhh . . . Home Sweet Office Telework Lowers Commuting Costs And Stress Levels Michael Dziak

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Summary: The Atlanta Journal Constitution; Sep 5, 2005, pA15 The author of this article believes that telecommuting at least one day a week is one solution to the high cost of gasoline. A brief discussion of the benefits of lowered commuting costs and easing stress levels is followed by an admission that getting permission and support for telecommuting is no easy matter. The author cautions those interested to plan ahead. He offers a number of tips to those interested in telecommuting that will help to position them with their employers and prepare them for the privilege of working from home. Among the more interesting suggestions: • Accumulate work tasks that require quiet concentration and take them home to work on them one or two days a week.

• Communicate with both managers and colleagues as to what specifically you’re working on, and, when you return to the office, what you’ve accomplished.

• Create personal work rules that help to establish discipline and concentration.

soho How To Make Mobility Work

Mark Vernon Management Today (London); July, 2005, p70

Summary: This article provides readers with a deeper look into the complex issues involved with creating a successful telework program. The author’s contention is that companies are underestimating the requirements for creating a successful “mobile working” system and overestimating their ability to transform their work culture and management processes to provide the necessary framework for success.

Some companies carefully plan the development of their programs while others create mobile working systems on an ad hoc basis. In the first instance equipment is decided upon and purchased, in-house organizational and security systems are created and the relevant employees are trained and equipped to work outside of the office setting. The hoped for results are employer cost savings, greater employee freedom and work/life balance, and an attendant rise in employee morale and productivity.

The article notes that in most companies the remote working systems are not well thought out. Companies may buy into the mobility vision as far as purchasing some initial equipment but balk at the time and expense of developing back-office systems and employee training. Many managers simply get cold feet when they no longer see an office full of industrious employees and keep mobility on too tight a leash.

Successful telecommuting programs are examined but lead the author to conclude that technology “is at least one step ahead of organizations’ ability, or willingness, to use it.” Of special concern are the security vulnerabilities he identifies. The author is also concerned about companies that fail to appreciate the ways in which mobility affects and changes the nature of organizations.

He advocates the development of an effective wireless asset management (WAM) strategy and the treatment of wireless assets like any other valuable business resource.

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This article also explores the people side of this issue, noting, for example, that nearly half of teleworker respondents in a recent survey felt that they lacked access to such “corporate social capital” as informal office networks and “coffee machine conversations,” as well as managerial support and the skills and performance measurements necessary to work effectively and productively. The author discusses how mobile technology can mitigate some of these problems and touches on the cultural problems that must be addressed. The article ends with a list of do’s and don’ts that will help companies to achieve success with their telework programs.

office management If This Desk Could Talk; How You Organize Your Workspace Can Reveal A Lot About You. But First Impressions Can Be Misleading, Experts Say, So Be Careful How You Read Those Desktop Clues Chris Bynum Times-Picayune (New Orleans); Aug 24, 2005, pO1

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Summary: Recent research at the University of Texas in Austin has found that “environments individuals craft around themselves, such as offices and bedrooms, are rich with information about the occupants’ personalities, abilities, values and lifestyles.” The author is quick to warn that “desk-watching amateurs should avoid jumping to conclusions about desktop first impressions, particularly since “people can manipulate what they want others to see.” Some of the more interesting findings highlighted by this article: • A bowl of candy on the desktop suggests extroverted behavior and a worker who welcomes social interaction.

• A clock situated where the occupant can see it indicates that he or she is a responsible employee.

• People with non-routine jobs tend to have messy desks; a perfectly clean desk does not indicate an optimally efficient worker. [An intermediate level of mess is optimal].

One researcher breaks desk clues into categories: • Identity Claims – items “that reinforce our vision of what we are like,” including things like family photos.

• Inadvertent Cues – indicators of our behavior and habits.

• Thought and feeling regulators – how we construct our environment to make it easier to have thoughts and feelings [like facing away from a distracting window].

The author observes that one’s desktop is never related to how well one does one’s job, but rather how one feel about their workspace. People who decorate extensively want to claim that space. Unfortunately, notes one researcher, “we are an order-obsessed society” where messy desks are frowned on and a messy worker who makes a mistake is assumed to have erred because of a messy desk.

Reference is made to one researcher’s upcoming book where readers meet the “mess sadist” [the co-worker who is orderly just to make his neighbor feel bad about being disorderly], the “mess master” [the employee who thrives in an extremely messy environment] and the “order hypocrite [who fakes order by putting things into neat piles or hiding things].

Compass: How Neighborly Etiquette Could Account For A Near 60% Outsourcing Failure Rate; Five Personality Types Dominate Outsourcing Relationships M2 Presswire (Coventry); Aug 23, 2005, p1 Summary: This article illuminates an enigma revealed by a recent survey

by Compass Management Consulting – while business process outsourcing continues to grow and dominate strategic decisionmaking, “contractual relationships” with outsourcing partners disappoint nearly 60% of the time. Research further indicates that 80% of contracts that fail, fail due to poor governance, with problems ranging from a shortage of management skills to a lack of proactive behavior by outsourcing partners. These “soft” intangible issues are often overlooked during sourcing and negotiations, but need to be carefully addressed.

The article provides readers with tactics to help remedy the first four personality types as well as steps to take that will enhance the results achievable with the fifth personality type.

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The article notes that companies tend to exhibit five primary personality types when dealing with their outsourcing partners, only one of which forms the basis of a strong relationship necessary for success: 1. The Curtain Twitcher – Nosy but not interfering, they complain to colleagues about their service-providers’ short-comings but don’t address the issue head-on.

2. The Trend Spotter – A company’s internal team that outsource because it is the current trend in business service management and because there is pressure from above to pursue offshore solutions.

3. The Noisy Neighbor – An overzealous micromanager who prevents the service provider from proceeding with an obsession with minute detail and “analysis paralysis.”

4. The Hedge Builder – Who sets up a contract but expects not to get personally involved under the misguided belief that outsourcing cures all ills.

5. The Good Neighbor – Representing only 20% of outsourcing deals, he/she understands that a multi-layered arrangement between client and server is needed at the strategic, tactical and operational levels, with training provided to service provider personnel and cultural differences identified and bridged.

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technology

Devices Create Wireless Hotspots When You Travel Away From Home

The Cleveland Plain Dealer; Aug 29, 2005, pE4 Brett Burney

Summary: When away from home or office a laptop outfitted with a wireless network card can connect through a growing number of wireless “hot spots” offering free Internet access. This article notes that these spots – hotels, airports, libraries and coffee shops – are not ubiquitous and s uggests that many business users will benefit from carrying one of the new portable wireless routers. These specialized routers [sometimes called “travel routers”] are about the size of a deck of cards and come with internal antennae. They don’t have the range of the larger routers of office or home office networks but work very well for PCs used in hotel rooms or other small rooms. The author notes that although a good number of hotels offer wireless access in guest rooms, a majority of them offer it only in their lobbies. Even if guest rooms don’t have wireless Internet access, most have high-speed Internet access. Travel router users merely plug into a box on the desk in their room to create an instant wireless hot spot. Users can then lounge with their laptops on their bed or out on a balcony.

This article reviews three travel routers. The setup and configuration of each is discussed, as are their features, relative performance and prices. Website addresses where readers can find more information are also given.

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Boston Scientific’s state-of-the-art Research and Development Facility in Maple Grove opened in October of 2005.

Target Commercial Interiors provided many of the furnishings that helped them realize their goal of a high performing, sustainable and environmentally responsible building. One of the highlights pictured here is the 11,000 square foot state-of-the-art conference center.

Project design/build team consisted of: Kraus Anderson Construction Co. and Hagen, Christensen & Mcllwain Architects.