FOREFRONT | Fall 2016

VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 1 | FALL 2016

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INNOVATION IS A GLOBAL GOAL GLOBALIZATION TECHNOLOGY THE NEED FOR MEASURED SPEED

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SPARK WORKPLACE ENGAGEMENT

LESSONS FROM A GLOBAL ECONOMY FALL 2016 |

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A PUBLICATION OF WSA STUDIO 982 South Front Street Columbus, Ohio 43206 WSAstudio.com | (614) 824-1633

PUBLISHER: WSA Studio

EDITORIAL TEAM: Timothy C. Hawk, FAIA Amber Aitken Connor Miko

DESIGN & PRODUCTION: Connor Miko

WSA TEAM: Amber Aitken Brian Albright R. Todd Boyer, AIA, LEED AP BD+C Troy Brummel, Assoc. AIA, NCARB AXP Geoff Gay, NCARB AXP Scott Geither, LEEP AP Brian Havener Timothy C. Hawk, FAIA Connor Miko Kirsten Sheely, NCDIQ, IIDA, LEED AP Josh Tomey Nicole Vice, Assoc. AIA Frank Weaver Nathan Wendling, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP BD+C Loretta Pine, K9

PHOTOGRAPHY: Brad Feinknopf Death to Stock Photo Unsplash

ABOUT WSA STUDIO: Located in the Brewery District of Columbus, Ohio, WSA Studio is in its 46th year of architectural practice. The true test of any mission is its ability to endure. Our work stands as a testimony to the values which attract top tier clients and talent to WSA Studio. These ideals influence our approach and are integral to our process.

DESIGN FOR INNOVATION

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TECHNOLOGY GLOBALIZATION THE NEED FOR MEASURED SPEED CREATE THE DESTINATION MIX PEOPLE CHANGE THE PROCESS INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY

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I WANT IT THAT WAY I NEED TO SEE YOU INCREASING PROFITS

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CAN I HAVE THAT TOMORROW? SPARK WORKPLACE ENGAGEMENT THE MAGICAL COMBINATION REMEMBER CAPITALISM?

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INNOVATION IS A GLOBAL GOAL “Although every organisation will have its own priorities and sector-speciic issues to balance, businesses that fail to innovate run the risk of losing ground to competitors, losing key staf, or simply operating ineiciently. Innovation can be a key diferentiator between market leaders and their rivals.” - Queensland Government.

The need for innovation is at the heart of most 2016 entrepreneurial plans. Everyone is seeking innovation, everyone wants to encourage and foster its development, and, it seems, everyone is hoping that innovation will result in greater success for their enterprise. When innovation is googled, one can even ind articles on “killing innovation” in order to encourage innovation. I guess reverse psychology works on organizations too!

But why? Why is innovation, that mysterious, back-room goal of the few, suddenly all the rage for the masses? Why has innovation become so important to organizations and why is planning shifting away from balance toward business intervention and change?

Technology. Globalization. The Need for Speed.

COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION 2016: THE FUTURE OF DESIGN, EXPLORED.

TECHNOLOGY oday, January 24, 2016, is the thirty-second anniversary of the release of the Apple Macintosh computer. Remember the advertisements during Super Bowl XVIII where Apple blew up Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984? Although slow to be adopted because of the expense and understanding, personal computing and personal devices have transformed our linear, person-to-person regional business culture into a top speed, hyper-connected environment where personal devices are an extension of our thoughts.

I don’t know about you, but I sleep with my phone next to my bed. My iPhone is my alarm clock. It is my camera. I use it to telephone friends and family. It provides access to much of the data that I need. It is my encyclopedia, dictionary, and pocket resource library.

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Academic arenas were the irst to embrace these technologies. I recall the migration from typewriters to personal computers at Ohio State. By 1989 when I received my graduate degree, MacLabs had popped up all over campus, and the lines to use these computers to type your term paper were longer than the lines at Pappa Joe’s on High Street. We all wanted to use these devices, but no one could aford them. By the time I entered classes for my second graduate degree in 1991, the University of Illinois at Chicago bookstore had been transformed into a technology hub. It was intimidating, but Kris and I took out a loan from the UIC credit union and inanced the purchase of our irst computer for around $4,500. We paid a couple of hundred dollars each month for a few years to pay of that device, which transformed my life. It was well worth it, and to me, triggered an optimistic viewpoint towards the potential of technology to transform life.

At the same time, my life in architectural practice did not change all that quickly. Employers, faced with huge overhead costs, were slow to adopt digital drawing platforms, and while I was macintoshing at home, my life at work was strictly based on the ink pen, pencil, and the telephone. Personal computing did not transform architectural drawing until the mid to late 1990’s. Shortly thereafter, the internet transformed communication and research. And the path ever since has been a dizzying pace of upgrades, innovation, and technological revolution. In 2016, we create drawings both by hand and digitally in two and three-dimensions, and technology has completed impacted the pace of design, collaboration, and implementation. As we look to the future, I see technology as a tool poised to replace builders and fabricators. Buildings can already be printed and building materials are being customized through robotics and digital fabrication techniques.

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GLOBALIZATION t is hard to deny that technology has certainly transformed the entire world. Access to technology has completely changed the nature of education, business, and industry, and geographic boundaries have blurred. No longer is a student who studies at

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far from physical access to intellectual knowledge and consider the same scenarios. My bet is that the lives of those in Central Asia have been transformed more signiicantly in this time frame than those of North Americans. Access to information is driving

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a university limited to those resources singularly owned by that institution. Imagine a time when student research was limited to interaction with their professors, peers, and the physical reading materials housed in the library. Stop. Consider this wholly.

Conversely, consider the vast array of resources available to those same students in 2016. The diference is astounding. Now, translate yourself to some remote part of the world historically 7

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globalization. We are able to more easily exchange ideas and connectivity is strengthened. Geography and distance is erased.

Leaders around the globe are sharing ideas and experiences and, for many, our client base, consumer target area, talent pool, and constituency has grown to be wide, broad, deep, and diverse.

THE NEED FOR MEASURED SPEED aster. Do it faster. Get that idea out there before the competition beats us to the punch!

Beware. Be careful. Be measured.

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INNOVATION Innovative concepts and ideas have always been the key to success. Go watch the recent movie “Joy” to get an insight into one woman’s struggle to maintain the rights and associated rewards for her patented self-ringing mop. It is a great performance

by Jennifer Lawrence who portrays Joy Mangano, a self-made millionaire. The most interesting lesson in this story is how television and technology supported her eforts to promote her ideas and concepts. Technology allowed her to become an overnight success. She sold her products on QVC, an early home-shopping network. Yet, this notoriety also threatened to undermine her success when remote vendors, historically blind to their client’s success, attempted to squeeze her proits and steal her intellectual ideas. Joy learned that speed wins. Get the idea irst, get the word out irst, and harness the amazing bandwidth of technology in order to ensure meteoric success.

She also learned that our global world requires tenacity, intelligence, and careful protective measures. We need to go slow to go fast.

“That’s why, when every instinct is telling us to run faster, we need to slow down and check to see if we’re running in the right direction. And the more change speeds up, the greater the need to pause and make sure we get it right before responding to new developments in our markets.” - Holly Green; Forbes, January 15, 2013.

Technology is certainly driving a global environment poised for rapid change and development. More now than ever, innovation is critical to the success of every organization, and innovation cannot be reserved for the few entrepreneurial types. Innovation needs to be embraced by each participant. Innovation will be a component of each strategic plan, and innovation will come front and center as we move forward in the 21st century.

At WSA Studio we have dedicated our design irm to this cause. How can we help drive innovation for each organization we engage? This is our mission, our passion, and our highest priority. Join me as we share lessons learned, leading thoughts, concepts, and design considerations throughout 2016.

CREATE THE DESTINATION on’t you love going on vacation? It doesn’t matter if getting away from normal is somehow re-invigorating. At its foundation, vacation is so rewarding for the busy 21st century American simply because it provides a break, but I have often wondered if there is more scientiic reason which might suggest that getting away can actually provide a creative perspective, renewed energy, and a clearer mind. Adam Galinsky, professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University sites research which supports this theory.

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“Galinsky’s research with William Maddux, a professor at the business school INSEAD has found that traveling abroad makes people have a more nuanced understanding of themselves, while at the same time they also have a better sense of who they are.” Time, May 24, 2011.

So, vacation can indeed provide a refreshing experience and propel individuals to act, think, and perform their job duties with more creativity. Can even a few days away from your normal work experience provide a similar efect? We think so. As we explore the seeds of innovation in workplace design at WSA Studio, we have found that an idea incubator that is created as a destination place can have a signiicant impact on an employee’s contributions to process innovation.

The destination needs to be away from the standard workplace, preferably in a remote location. The destination needs to be designed to contrast with the organization’s typical workplace environment. The destination needs to provide a memorable experience.

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Cardinal Health, number 26 on the Fortune 500 list in 2015, came to WSA Studio with the idea of creating a business technology innovation center, Fuse, in a retail space on the edge of Dublin, Ohio. Cardinal had leased approximately 12,000 SF in a strip shopping center less than a mile from their world headquarters facility.

The existing Cardinal Headquarters is considered “Class A” space by real estate professionals and was designed by leading workplace specialists at NBBJ, Perkins + Will, and OHM Advisors in a series of phases over a ifteen-year time frame. Why on earth would Cardinal want to displace people from their topnotch, state-of-the-art facility to a simple strip shopping center adjacent to retail stores, restaurants, and a branch bank? They were interested in creating a destination to gather corporate players in a fresh and creative environment. DISTANCE and diference were at the heart of their concept.

The existing corporate oice is a very typical compilation of individual workstations, private oices, closed conference rooms, with adjacent collaborative space. Designed primarily to promote the eicient production, the corporate headquarters supports linear processes, individual tasks, and day-to-day functions. The corporate headquarters is, well, corporate.

Executives at Cardinal wanted to establish Fuse as a place where innovation would be rewarded and valued. Teams are encouraged to take risks and solve problems. Employees who

work at Fuse tackle the design, development, and delivery of work at Fuse tackle the design, development, and delivery of technology-enabled services and software to help healthcare providers improve the safety and eiciency of patient care.

FUSE BY CARDINAL HEALTH “Everything about the space, including its custom-designed entryway sculpture, is intentionally designed to remind employees and visitors alike that when they walk through the door, we want both their right and left brain engaged. We want employees to leave their job titles, business units and silos behind so they can focus on solving customer problems.” Brent Stutz, Senior Vice President, Commercial Technologies, Pharmaceutical Segment, Cardinal Health.

See more HERE. At the heart of the design is the “sub-hub”: a large, centralized gathering area anchored by large tables which serve multiple functions daily. Employees eat lunch at this location, they take breaks, collaborate, and hold impromptu meetings (often called scrums). The sub-hub promotes equivalent access to all participants in an atmosphere where creative collisions are encouraged. Hierarchy is stripped at the sub-hub and employees feel physically and emotionally free to consider, share, and explore creative solutions to typical challenges. Adjacent spaces all envelop the sub-hub which functionally reinforces its position as the design’s hearth, heart, and center point. In order to emphasize the importance of the sub-hub, designers at WSA Studio crafted a stylized, curving ceiling soit directly above the space which makes the sub-hub have threedimensional spatial impact. The sub-hub looring, tables, and soit are painted white to provide additional contrast in juxtaposition to the darker surrounding environment. The sub-hub makes a bold design statement through its start simplicity, contrasting color and shape, and centralized location. Fuse visitors are instantly transformed on a mini-vacation from the individualized, linear, corporate environment of the home oice.

The Fuse by Cardinal Health is an innovation lab connecting technology to healthcare. Cardinal Health, with the support from Pillar Technology, came to WSA Studio with a need for a technology enhanced space that could support their evolving needs. The space aligns the philosophies embedded in the home oice with tomorrow’s need for lexibility and collaboration. The design features a centralized “hub” with a heavy, white, sculpted soit. All other areas are grey with selected pops of color for impact.

The Fuse is illed with huddle rooms, conferencing space, an event space, and a technology bar where people wearing tee shirts and sandals sit to write software that will directly inluence Cardinal Health and the healthcare industry as a whole.

Wouldn’t you want to work at a place where you can take a short vacation periodically?

Refreshing.

Invigorating.

Memorable.

The designed environment at Fuse plants the seeds of innovation for this global leader in health care services.

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MIX PEOPLE T

fourteen architects and designers be composed of individuals holding ten or more types? We mix it up. We always have. We always will. Why? Diverse viewpoints foster creativity.

Nope. Not at all. How strange. How on earth could a irm of

Diferent approaches drive innovation. Multiple perspectives within a small organization can dramatically increase the efectiveness of the design process. Our profession has long known that engagement, criticism, and diverse viewpoints can propel the creative process forward. We know that creativity can exist in isolation, of course, but more importantly, we know that design is enriched by various perspectives. We must look at our design challenges from all angles. Buildings

his week has been review week here at WSA Studio and as a part of this process, everyone was invited to take an online test through the website, www.16personalities.com.

This site uses a line of questioning based upon the historically signiicant Myers-Briggs Type Indicator research to align individuals with one of sixteen distinct personalities. Test takers answer 100 probing questions and then a supercomputer assigns a personality type. After the testing, one might expect a group of architects and designers to possess a collection of similar typologies.

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and spaces endure the test of time much better when a wide array of considerations envelop the design process. How does the design stand up to time if its original idea cannot withstand an ideological challenge? Buildings must endure; the stakes are too high to only consider a design challenge from one perspective.

Last June, I was lucky enough to attend a presentation by former President Bill Clinton at the AIA National Convention in Atlanta. Clinton spoke of his foundation’s global initiative to impact client change, improve health and wellness, and positively impact global economic conditions. Of course, Clinton is a charismatic story teller, but one story in particular stood out to me above all. Clinton spoke about the processes he uses to solve complex problems and stated that he has found that teams made of individuals with average intelligence will solve a complex problem more quickly than one subject-area genius working independently. Often, problem solving is not about individual brilliance, it is about considering the challenge resolution from several perspectives. The collection of diverse attempts sparks a creative ire in the group which will fuel and evolve the process of innovation. True story.

So, given this, and the amazing amount of research that exists in our society on this topic, why are so many of our business sectors not embracing this fact? Why do many of us sit at work each day in complete isolation from one another? Why does “Dilbertville” persist? Why do those who hold more seniority often move towards even greater isolation in a private oice? What have we been thinking?

Productivity. Eiciency. Isolated tasks. Much of our workplace culture has been set up to support these ideals. Think Henry Ford and the production line. Each person has a job to do. They become an expert in their contribution. We all split up tasks.

The car churns of of the assembly line more quickly with higher quality. If one is merely charged with the implementation of ideas, and your individual contribution has little to do with the design of the whole, then focus is key. Individual expertise is most important. Repetitive tasks need support.

That’s not today. This thinking is not about the here and now, nor is it about a fast future where global competition drives the need to more rapidly solve complex problems. The future of the workplace will be much more similar to a design irm, where a group of diverse individuals, all motivated to support problem-solving can foster innovative solutions. Mix it up, people. Let them all co-exist.

Give me your ENTP’s, your ISFJ’s, and all those who fall in between. Mixing people fuels innovation.

PRIORITY DESIGNS Priority Designs was an abandoned former car dealership in Whitehall when WSA Studio got involved. It was internally overhauled and transformed into a new and collaborative oice space, design studio, conference center, and fabrication studio.

The major needs included both a cutting edge facility to relect their unique design approach and a design that encouraged their atmosphere of acceptance.

The team blended natural materials, vibrant colors, and project display space to connect multiple levels and programmatic requirements. The design elevates all the moving parts of their organization while promoting an atmosphere that blends work and play.

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CHANGE THE PROCESS ow! This one is hard. No one likes to change. No one.

Even if we say we do, we don’t really want to change.

Human nature seeks consistency. Look around. We like our surroundings to be familiar, consistent, and predictable. Erratic patterns drive people crazy. To suggest innovation in the workplace is fueled by process change is complete crazy talk.

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In Ohio the one certain change is the weather. Columbus has an average high temperature of 84 F in July and 21 F in January.

This is a sixty-three-degree swing (63 F). The only constant in this data is the anticipated change! Conversely, San Diego, California has an average high temperature of 74 F in July and an average high of 64 F in January. This diferential is 10 degrees, or trending towards consistent and predictable. So, given the choice, most people prefer San Diego’s weather over that in Columbus. In fact, currentresults.com lists San Diego as one of the top three cities for weather in each season.

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Yawn. So consistent.

Now, let’s ask this: What kind of innovators have we found in each area?

Famous inventors from Ohio include: Wilbur and Orville Wright: irst in airplane light. Dayton, Ohio.

Charles Kettering: invented the electric cash register and the electric starter for cars. Dayton, Ohio.

Thomas Edison: invented the phonograph, the movie camera, and projector. Milan, Ohio.

Granville Woods: invented overhead electric train wires and the train telegraph service. Columbus, Ohio.

Charles Martin Hall: patented an inexpensive method for the production of aluminum. Oberlin, Ohio.

James Spangler: invented a portable electric vacuum cleaner. Springield, Ohio.

William Meriam Burton: invented thermal cracking for the processing of gasoline. Cleveland, Ohio.

Josephine Cochrane: invented the dishwasher. Ashtabula, Ohio.

Famous inventors from California include: Theodore Harold Maiman: invented the irst working optical laser. Los Angeles, California.

The Rocket Chemical Company: invented WD-40. San Diego, California.

Can’t ind many more on the internet. I’m searching (not entirely objectively, I’ll admit), but I can’t ind a lot of inventors from the San Diego area. Why is this? Is it just so nice out there that they are always sunning?

One could suggest that Ohio’s proclivity for fostering innovation is rooted in the natural resources found here that directed industry, and one could be correct. I surmise that the innovative nature of Ohioans is rooted in their ability to manage change.

Ohioans accept modulations in process. We thrive in it. When we can expect each day to be diferent outside, in nature, we certainly can expect each day to be diferent in the oice or the laboratory or the shop.

Be like those historic Ohioans, people. Let design force change in your process and watch the innovation unfold.

“People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs, Apple

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INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY t seems that all new things are celebrated with great pomp circumstance. Yah! I have something new. Come see it. Come share in my joy over my shiny new object.

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There was a Wang computer adjacent to the math room at my high school in New Philadelphia. It was so special (and so large), it took over an entire room and gained energy from punch cards that were fed into a slot in its side. I recall the principal bringing by community and business leaders while we studied

A few years later, while in graduate school at Ohio State, my class was an early leader in the development of software to assist architects in the development of digital drawing tools. By this time, we had Macintosh personal computers which were signiicantly smaller than the old Wang computer, but they were still set aside in a lab. We viewed the computer as a special tool that stood apart from the everyday business of architecture.

In Chicago, my oice had one or two personal computers set

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“Computer Programming I and II” in the next room. The visitors were always very impressed with the district’s investment, but they had no idea why we harnessed the tool. They just witnessed the Wang as a novelty. Mrs. Rothel, our energetic computer programming teacher, on the other hand, was convinced that computers would become a vital part of our lives, so I did my part to learn about the computer because I believed in her dream.

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up in a special area of the studio, and one had to be selected to work on the system. It was considered a diferent path than design. Visitors were often given a tour of the area and they would ask lots of questions about how the computers were helping our architecture irm provide a better product for clients. The computer was a special attraction, a side show which supplemented the traditional design process.

But with time and change, the computer has become fully integrated as the tool of choice for drawing in all architecture irms. Nowadays, the computer is not so special. When we give prospective clients a tour through our studio, we are more often sharing the products of the computer: drawings that we produce using the myriad of software programs which have been developed to support the architectural profession. The computer itself is akin to a pen. Visitors do not look to be impressed with the mundane; they are more interested in the shiny new objects. What’s next? Tomorrow’s irm may use virtual reality tours or three dimensional printers. Robots may fabricate building components in the studio. Who knows?

It is important to recognize that architectural drafting and modeling technologies have become integrated into the process of design, and we have moved onto new technological pursuits. That is the way things happen in the workplace. Technologies become integrated once they are of actual value and they are replaced by novelties. New technologies sit of to the side until they are adopted while complete integration results in exponential progress.

MOTORISTS INNOVATION CENTER As part of new direction for the corporation known as Vision 2021, WSA Studio began working with Motorists Insurance Group on the irst component of a multiphase renovation known as The Business Innovation Center. Located along the entrance path on the second loor of a 22-story building, The Business Innovation Center is easily visible to anyone who enters the building and brings a new energy to the vastly evolving company. The goal was to create a space where members of the IT department could work in collaboration with business units inside an agile and steadfast work environment, so the space includes open oice teaming environments, presentation and training space, environmental graphics, and comfortable collaboration space.

Adopt technology to fuel innovation. Throw technological processes into the mix and watch the pace of progress.

At Motorists’ Business Innovation Center, our team signiicantly increased project funds to integrate a robust audio/visual package which supports a robust communications platform between local and remote Motorists locations. Almost every conference room is supported with a video-conference device. Some are more sophisticated than others. Meeting participants can capture their work digitally and instantly share goals and objectives. They are also able to see one another during the normal course of everyday business.

Technology closes the gap between distant locations and allows associates to accelerate the resolution of their collective project objectives, and it is working.

When our team met with Motorists’ leaders to gain feedback on the design’s efectiveness, we were lauded for the integrated technology and they suggested that rooms without audio/visual support would beneit from integration. We have been amazed at the impact that technology has had on the efectiveness of this design and have adopted new standards for collaborative space speciications as a result.

The design features a raw, exposed aesthetic which contrasts with warm wood. Elements of the Motorists brand provide the foundation for signage and feature elements. Embedded technology enriches the space and allows all associates in this regional insurance company to be connected instantly.

Now, we look to the future and wonder what might be next. And, we know one thing for sure: we will integrate technology irst as the best and most proper way to celebrate that which is new and next.

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GLOBALIZATION The world is upon us. Regardless of how much we try to convince ourselves that the local market is independent and driven by local issues, we cannot deny that technology has dramatically closed the gap between far lung places. Each day, as we toil in Columbus, our businesses are impacted by global issues. In fact, in Ohio alone, 215 countries received over $1 billion in Ohio exports, with Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia leading the pack. Machinery was the top export category, followed by vehicles, aircraft, plastics, and optics.

That’s right, Ohio citizens are working hard each day to create products that are exported around the globe. Globalization is truly impacting our workplace, and this is not going to decrease with time.

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INCREASE CULTURAL DIVERSITY ook right. Look left. Do the people next to you look just like you or are they descendent from a culture that is diferent than yours? My bet is that some of your neighbors are from a unique culture. Most of you are working in a much more pluralistic working environment than you did just a few years ago. Globalization is here. Globalization is impacting every geographic area of the United States. We are clearly more connected to distant cultures now more than ever and it seems that with each day we are working more closely with a diverse mixture of individuals.

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A couple of years ago, our little architecture irm in the middle of the Midwest was lucky enough to earn the opportunity to design a new space for an international corporation,

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Persistent Systems. What an experience! Their representatives were interested in attracting new employees to support their growing global enterprise. Persistent has clients all over the world and provide information technology consultation around the globe. When they were seeking a place to locate their American Center of Excellence, they chose Dublin, Ohio, in large part due to an adjacent, huge population of students graduating from Ohio universities. The State of Ohio also stepped in to provide business tax incentives which sweetened the deal. WSA Studio was charged to create an atmosphere where a diverse range of employees could coalesce to support one another in a nimble working environment. We recognized immediately that we were dealing with a special client, with 21st century workplace goals. How do we design for a global

company? Are their workplace needs any diferent than a typical American corporation in the Midwest? The answer is yes and no.

Today and tomorrow, the corporate workplace is enriched by an overlay of cultural expectations. There is no one-size-its-all solution. We can no longer design a nice space and rely on furniture vendors to properly equip each employee with the same workstation throughout (remember the 90s?). Today and tomorrow, we need to provide unique space planning solutions which allow each culture to melt into a team. At Persistent, our solution was to allocate a larger quantity of space in an efort to support a variety of needs. Culturally, some employees are socialized to be working in an equivalent working environment where everyone gets the same type of open working environment. Others expect privacy and focus in their workplace and value individualized oices. Traditional American values dictate varied oice experiences as one becomes more senior in an organization. Those at the top receive oices. Those at entry level are assigned a small workstation and as you progress through the organizational hierarchy, you earn more autonomy.

You are essentially rewarded for your commitment to the company and earn the right to have more space, more collaborative opportunities, and more lexibility.

Meritocracy rules. So, here we are at Persistent, faced with the overlay of cultural expectations. To add fuel to the ire, throw in the wide expectations that come with generational shifts, and you have the melting pot that is brought to the table in today’s global environment. All in Dublin, Ohio, the bucolic suburb of Columbus that is about as historically homogenous as one might expect.

Our design at Persistent is anchored by a large, central gathering area, the “esplanade,” complete with bench seating and a feature wall constructed of wood and resins. This large esplanade provides an entry point to the space but more importantly establishes boundaries between the various forms of collaborative space sprinkled throughout the plan. To the right is a heads down focused working environment while the area to the left of the entry supports casual interaction and team based group decision-making. The central esplanade is not a programmatic need, but it serves the purpose of adding a neutral destination space within the workplace where the people of various cultures can retreat for privacy or quiet group interaction. The additional space helps to relieve pressure from what might have been a tight, co-mingled working environment. We believe that this additional space helps to difuse individual issues that may have developed without the beneit of the esplanade.

PERSISTENT SYSTEMS Persistent Systems is a global leader in technology consultation. This Center for Excellence remakes a suburban “vanilla box” space in order to attract energizing talent.

The design includes individual work space geared towards an agile and rapid software development optimized for a collaborative work environment. The facility is speciically designed to help enterprises create rapid application prototypes and utilize perceptual computing driven innovative user interfaces.

The solution for cultural diversity? Add space, mix, and watch innovation grow as our day-to-day workplace challenges are quickly resolved through cultural overlay.

How international.

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TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION veryone talks a lot about technology and the amazing impact it has had on our American culture. I agree with them. All irms, large and small, urban and rural, huge city to small town, are harnessing technology to stay connected, seek information, and gain a competitive advantage. So, if technology is the key to success both now and in the future, why has it remained a “stand-apart” component of the design process?

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1998. WSA Studio was busy working to design a major corporate headquarters for The McGraw-Hill Companies on the north side of Columbus. McGraw-Hill is a global leader in educational products and information. This particular headquarters is for their Glencoe division, which publishes textbooks for secondary schools. Given the use of the building, and given the wide ranging geographical distribution of employees for McGraw-Hill, technology integration was a key goal for the project. On previous projects, we had always coordinated the eforts of a third-party consultant who would work directly with the owner. This process proved less than successful and almost always wreaked havoc on the construction process. Inevitably, work that had been already put in place needed to be “undone” in order to coordinate the later, technological interventions. The entire process was very 21

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frustrating, and always led to exasperated owners and change orders that could have easily been avoided if the project was planned well. When we were planning the design team for The McGraw-Hill Companies, our team fought to integrate the design of the technology system (both audio/visual tools and distributed cabling) into the main project in order to increase the coordination of systems and costs. Frankly, it just seemed odd to me that this trade was allowed to exist outside of the main project protocol. The process needed to change in order to reduce the confusion over the distribution of cabling and the integration of audio/visual components. Interestingly, we didn’t realize that we were pushing the boundaries of the industry at the time. We found that most of the contractors felt uncomfortable about taking responsibility for this new technology, and had hesitated to add the scope into their purview, even though they could have beneitted inancially from the integration. Their aversion to risk trumped the potential beneits that contractors could see from a change to the process. Regardless, we were able to modify the team to include a technology integrator and the early planning and coordination during construction led to an amazing reduction in ield related changes and more success solving those complex technology issues during the design

and planning phase. Most notable regarding the McGraw-Hill example is this: it was 1998, and we were working diligently to integrate technology distribution into the workplace. If this integration was of great importance nearly twenty years ago, imagine the importance in today’s globally connected business world. Today, the speed of business demands the use of technology for every worker. Systems are automated, workers expect to be connected via video conference instantly, and the transfer of information is proliic. Matt Straz, the founder and CEO of Namely, suggests that “cloud-based ile sharing tools like Google Drive and Dropbox are gaining traction within business both small and large” (Entrepreneur, February 23, 2015).

When technology is integrated in the design process, technology users are presented with user-friendly systems that support and augment their day-to-day work process. Employees share

knowledge and collaborate more readily, and their collaboration leads to innovation. Individuals are able to harness technology to facilitate learning on the go as they do their daily work. No longer do we have time to break for exhaustive training sessions and linear learning processes which extend timelines for continuing education. Today’s technology featuring user-friendly interfaces allows users to simply learn as they do.

The designer of the future might actually begin with technology as the centerpiece of the design challenge and it in lighting, furniture, comfort systems, and other functional needs as secondary to the technology. The key is integration. As leaders integrating technology, we are not unduly focusing on technology, we are fully integrating technology so its use is seamless and ubiquitous, promoting efective workplace habits.

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LESSONS FROM A GLOBAL ECONOMY few weeks ago, in large part due to the blog that I write, I was invited to lunch by a good friend, Mary Nessler. Mary is in a new position with Steelcase, a global manufacturer of oice furniture systems and accessories.

They are also well known for their research.

I love their research arm, and have always enjoyed the various touchpoints that I have with Steelcase research that I have been able to achieve throughout my career. Well, as we are leaving lunch, Mary slips me a copy of 360° Steelcase Global Report, Engagement and the Global Workplace. My heart be still.

Here is a manual that I can dig through and ind the most interesting information, and just at that point in my blog schedule for 2016 where I was getting a bit desperate for compelling information! So, I dug into the book and have loved the insights that this research has provided for me as a workplace designer.

Bottom line…the workplace struggle is real, global, and of great concern to all societies.

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GLOBALIZATION

“Employee engagement is a serious bottomline issue. It fuels organizations during times of economic growth and, more critically, when market conditions are uncertain and volatile.”

Findings from this Steelcase research endeavor indicate that the work environment can improve or hinder eforts by employers to boost employee engagement. Key indings include: 1. Employee Engagement positively correlates with workplace satisfaction.

2. Engaged employees have more control over their experiences at work.

3. Fixed technology exceeds mobile 2:1 4. Traditional workstyles persist.

5. Cultural context inluences engagement levels.

As I perused the indings, I was struck by the similarities between cultural perceptions and the facts which support these biases.

For instance, when Americans think of Germany, many of us would imagine a strict, rigid workplace with signiicant hierarchy (imagine Colonel Klink as your boss). This stereotype is certainly not the case in modern Germany, but the Steelcase research indicates that 75% of workers in Germany reside in private oices and Germans have less

access to alternative work spaces for privacy, rejuvenation, or exercise than the global average. The research fuels the stereotype a bit, and, not surprisingly, Germans give low scores for their quality of life at work, ranking in the bottom third of the study.

Surprising to me, and maybe this is fueled by my ignorance, are the results of the study in India and France. Among the seventeen countries that were evaluated, Indian workers proved to have the highest level of employee engagement and workplace satisfaction and their workers left every other country in the dust, comparatively. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Indian workers are highly engaged and highly satisied. The next highest country was Mexico with an engagement and satisfaction rating of twenty-two percent (22%).

Similarly surprising are the survey results among workers in France. French workers proved to be the least engaged and least satisied with their workplace. Among the participants, only ive percent (5%) reported that they are satisied. Considering my perception of the happy-go-lucky French people, with such a high level of energy and engagement, I was shocked to read the survey results.

So, why are workers in India engaged while French workers remain dissatisied? What is at the root of this issue, and how can we learn from this research? What might we assign to our day-to-day work here in Ohio?

“Disengaged employees make up about one-third of the average workforce.”

in an art gallery,” and there is some merit to this, but there’s not enough merit to drive twenty to thirty percent diferentials in satisfaction.

As I delved deeper into the data, it became clear that India’s workplace culture drives collaboration, diversity of experience, and is abundant with amenities. Overall, the percentage of respondents in India indicated that they have suicient quantities of meeting rooms, many of them have access to an on sight cafeteria, there is plenty of private space, and space for relaxation. Their primary work area is a generally a mix of individual oices, open plan, and shared private oice space.

In short, they have more square footage assigned per person.

The abundance of space options and amenities stands out in heightened contrast to the rich overlap that occurs in the densely populated Indian society. To these individuals, the workplace ofers a reprieve from the congestion of everyday life at home and in public. Work is a safe place, rich with choices, amenities, and options for personal privacy and teaming environments.

Now, contrast this workplace with that described in France.

Organizations in France primarily have traditional oices where hierarchy rules. Their oice environment consists primarily of individuals working independently in an individual oice or sharing a private oice with colleagues. Less than a quarter work in a collaborative open oice plan. But, interestingly, only 45% of the respondents believe their workplace ofers privacy.

In India, 79% say that their company takes a genuine interest in their well-being and 80% believe that their company recognizes and values them as employees. Same questions in France: 59% and 34% respectively. Yes, that is right, of those who responded, only 34% believe that they are valued. I don’t know about you, but most folks don’t give their all if they do not feel valued.

So, what is the ix for France? More wine? Well, we have already determined that this might be true, but in the workplace, I might suggest that they shift the real estate equation to ofer a greater proportion of space for the team and reduce the space that is allocated to individuals. Mix people, provide access to privacy and collaborative space, and introduce supportive amenity space. In short, pay attention to the needs of the users. Help them be efective through the design of the workplace and watch their engagement and passion grow. It seems to be that simple.

Engagement begins with workplace satisfaction. Simply put, if workers feel that they can concentrate easily, if they feel a sense of belonging to the company, if they believe that they can easily and freely express and share ideas, and if they are able to socialize with their colleagues, they develop a more positive attitude toward their working environment. Look at the amazing diference among respondents in India and France.

So, what is driving happiness and engagement diferentials among these two countries? I know, I know. Some of you are thinking “They are in France, they would rather be sipping wine

Learn from India. Twenty percent work remote from the oice in some capacity daily. Sixty-four percent are provided a mobile phone. Twenty-seven percent are ofered a tablet. Almost half (43%) are ofered some form of sporting or exercise facility.

“Indian workers’ generally positive statements may relect a passion for the opportunities available to workers in a growth market. In India’s highly competitive and luid job market, providing a desirable workplace can be a powerful strategy for attracting, retaining and engaging the talent that can help an organization thrive.”

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TECHNOLOGY The rate of technological change is outstripping all other forms. Many of our most precious technologies area released with planned obsolescence, since progress is the name of the game. In business, technology has completely transformed the landscape of process, the how. But until recently, technology has had a more limited impact on the way we come together in the workplace, in large part due to the cost to access technological support. But, on today’s competitive global stage, the cost to connect through technology is signiicantly less than the cost to travel physically. We have reached a tipping point, and the demand for embedded technology is growing exponentially.

I WANT IT THAT WAY ou are my ire, the one desire. Believe when I say ‘I want it that way.’” I Want It That Way (1999), Backstreet Boys, written by Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson.

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My oldest son turned 23 this past weekend. Born on April 2, 1993, Sam graduated from high school in 2011. He and his friends grew up during the transition of music from 90’s grunge to full out appreciation of hip hop and rap. In the interim, he and his peers listened to popular music from some of the best 90’s

me huge insight into what universally motivates this group of individuals.

“But we are two worlds apart. Can’t reach to your heart when you say that I want it that way.” The song, I Want It That Way is a relective party anthem for these kids. The lyrics speak to a generation torn by the tension that exists between pleasing others and self-indulgence. Interestingly, even the video of the Backstreet Boys displays the tension between individualism

TECHNOLOGY

boy bands ever compiled including N Sync, Backstreet Boys, 98 degrees. I have one particular memory from 2008. Sam hosted a pre-homecoming gathering at our house for his high school friends. They decided that they needed music to rock the party and proceeded to ind a Backstreet Boys disk in our cd player.

Once the music was on, the room lit up with bright nostalgia.

The group was completely still and when their song came over the 90’s Bose speakers, they all immediately jumped to their feet and began to belt out the lyrics. It was very memorable and gave 27

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and group think. In one scene, all ive members of the band are dressed completely in white, evoking the tradition of the boy bands of the 1960’s. Instead of each member wearing the same outit, each performer wears a white outit tailored to it their taste, reputation, or sensibility. One wears a turtle neck, the other a long white coat. Each member is allowed to individualize their wardrobe to meet their own taste, as long as the outit its a powerful unifying theme. In this case, they all wear the same shade of white. What a statement!

As a group, these Millennials completely embrace personal choice. As a group, Millennials expect to be able to customize their experiences within limits, and, above many other things, despise mandates and ixed situations. Deadlines? Fungible.

Fashion? Anything goes. Drawing Standards? Adaptable. Recipes?

Modiied. Rules? Questioned. It’s not surprising since many of these folks were raised by Baby Boomers who rushed in personal choice during their college days. These kids are accepting of everything in society, except personal restrictions. It’s no surprise

that Millennials demand a customizable experience. Technology is a staple of their lives since it allows them to immediately gain access to their own personal experience. Some are even conscious about NOT using technology in order to meet their individualistic preferences. Some prefer to communicate through social media; others choose traditional methods. As we have added a larger population of emerging professionals to the workplace, access to individual choice has come front and center.

Gone are the days when employees are required to perform

their duties using corporate standard solutions. I remember my irst job out of undergraduate. What a shock! I was recruited to work at Wandel & Schnell, Architects (Yes, the same irm that I now lead.) and on the irst day, I was given an assignment to label plans for a project the irm was designing. Tom Schnell, my lifelong mentor, set me up with the irst duty. I was asked to label a site plan for a corporate oice complex in Dublin, Ohio.

I was determined to use my best lettering since we had spent a few hours each day at OSU learning how to letter, but Tom had a diferent goal in mind. He asked me to use a lettering device called a “leroy” to make the lettering look more professional. It was this strange device that released ink from a pen while the user scribed letters with an attached stylus on an adjacent rule.

It was so complicated that I can’t even describe it. The challenge I had as a left handed person is that the device is strictly for a right handed person. I remember looking at my friend Terri Umbarger, who worked beside me, and asking her what to do. How could I mess up my irst assignment? I was worried I would lose my job.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t use this device and this was the way the irm required all drawings to be labeled. Well, I adapted. I used my right hand and practiced using the leroy. After a bit, I inally made good use of the device to label the buildings, parking, and ponds on the plan (albeit poorly). Ironically, when I turned the assignment in to Tom, he pointed out that I had not rendered the ponds on the plan correctly and he wasn’t able to use the plan for his meeting. What a mess! Anyway, the point is this: in 1986, there were conventions for process in the workplace. As an employee of a corporation, you were expected to perform the work using their tools, their methods, and their devices even if you were ill equipped to use them. My generation learned how to adapt. Fast forward to 2016, exactly thirty years later. I cannot imagine, not even for a minute, requiring one of my architectural team members to use a tool with their weak hand. Yes, we do utilize a set of standard software programs and apply quality conventions in the design of our buildings, but the process that is selected by each architect might be a bit diferent individually in order to promote quality, innovation, speed, and efectiveness. Technology supports our work process and eiciency is driven by personalization. When it comes to the integration of technology into the workplace as a means to drive innovation, it is critical that irms ofer a variety of technology interface settings. Some workers may prefer to connect in a private space, one on one. Most importantly, employers need to understand that each form of technology interface is necessary in a pluralistic response to workplace process. Yes, leaders will need to ofer the most recent technology choices (like video conferencing), but not at the expense of other means which are equally important. We specify white boards in rooms which integrate today’s latest audio/visual technology. Team members need to be able to write in a traditional sense while they are harnessing video-conference technology to connect to distant team members while they display digital documents and access the internet. All are necessary, and each method needs to be supported because, after all, “I want it that way.”

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I NEED TO SEE YOU e want to feel connected. Especially those of us who are in the Millennial generation. If you are under the age of 35, you thrive on connection in all forms. In person is important.

Written communications through today’s latest technology is more important, since it allows connectivity when we are remote from one another. Many forms are harnessed, including texting, emailing, digital chatting, instant messaging, and social media platforms. Any form of communication which includes visual images will be popular. If we compare social media, emerging generations much prefer those platforms which allow the user to support their communication with pictures or video. Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are very popular, but there is no clear winner since each platform uses videos and pictures. Why is video preferred over text?

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We want to gain the best, most reliable method for instantaneous connectivity without physically being there. We have a burning desire to connect IMMEDIATELY. We must connect NOW. And we are inally at a point where we can quickly connect visually. Thank you!

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So, why on earth has business been so slow to adopt this form of communication? Well, it is a long story driven by a lack of reliability and the tremendous cost of developing the infrastructure that allows such sophisticated video conferencing to support business. The truth: if video and voice is not reliable, we tune out and give up the pursuit. And, until just recently, we didn’t have reliable technology to support the transfer of high quality image transfer.

We simply needed to build demand for a serious investment in this technology. We have inally reached that point, and have arrived in large part through the shift in demand that is a ground swell movement by Millennials. Interesting.

Watch the timeline of communications technology unfold and the gaps between successive jumps.

Telephone: 1876. The telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell, was awarded the irst U.S. patent.

1904. Three million phones in the United States were connected by manual switchboard exchanges.

Cellular Phone: 1950. Bell Labs engineers proposed hexagonal cell transmissions for mobile phones in 1947. On April 3, 1973, Motorola manager Martin Cooper placed a cellular phone call in front of reporters.

Video: 1964. AT&T Picturephone is released which allows one to view a person on the other end. The technology is not readily adopted based upon poor quality and high price.

1972-1984. French innovators developed commercial applications for videotelephony.

1985. Japan’s Atari Video Game Company releases the Mitshubishi Lumaphone. The device cost $1,500 for a 1.6 inch black and white video stream.

1997. Kyocera Corporation releases the VP-210 VisualPhone, the world’s irst color video phone.

2007. The Apple iPhone was released ofering wide-ranging

personal access to video conferencing.

2010. Large-scale, high quality videoconferencing devices were being assimilated into the large corporations across America. But they only provided limited access to this amenity. Fast forward.

2016. Now. Video conferencing is inally being delivered to all employees in order to increase productivity, speed, and efectively. In our global economy, business, institutional, and educational leaders know that speed wins, and the investment has now reached a tipping point for embedded technologies.

Simply put, we learn more from one another when we can see one another. Using all of our senses allows us to best understand one another. We want to have a virtual experience that simulates reality as much as possible. And we want it to work seamlessly, without encumbrance.

Maybe someday we will have a true virtual experience. For now, we will live with our current technology, regardless of the limitations.

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TECHNOLOGY

INCREASING PROFITS aise your hand if you would like to make more money for you and/or your employees. I’ll wait. I thought so.

We all would like to make more money.

Not because we are greedy or selish.

We can always be philanthropic with our wealth. We all want to make more money to have greater freedom, a larger impact, or an easier path to succeed. In today’s competitive market, it seems like the income side is always being squeezed while the expense side of our business is growing. If you read well, you have igured out that the combination of reduced income and increasing expenses adds up to less proit. And, we can’t sustain any organization without income.

So, what to do? How can we reduce our expenses? Let’s consider the options.

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When we look at the various types of expenses that we incur each month, you can generally break the costs down into categories. First and foremost, you have wages or salaries. There doesn’t seem to be a way to reduce salaries and still attract top talent. Reducing this cost, which is often more than ifty percent of the overall expenses for an organization, is a nonstarter. What is next? Well, one of the next large expense is often software costs. Especially today, when we have all been forced into a subscription-based platform where you are guaranteed costs each and every month. I know that for our irm, we expend around 10% of our monthly allocation on software to Adobe, Microsoft, SketchUp, Autodesk, Harvest, AIA Contract Documents, and ARCOM. Yea. We pay a lot of money for software, but I can guarantee that if we didn’t have this software, we couldn’t practice architecture. So, there is that.

We can’t do without our software costs, and we have done everything that we can to reduce our costs. I am sure that the same is true for most organizations. We need software to live today. It is oxygen.

Another signiicant cost for any organization is their lease or mortgage.

Real estate is not cheap by a long shot.

There is a very simple method to reduce one’s real estate cost. Reduce the size of

your space. When we use less space, we pay less. Straightforward and easy. Well, how do we harness technology to reduce the amount of square footage we rent?

First, we need to harness technology to allow our employees to be more eicient and efective. When this step has been fully implemented, your organization will need fewer employees. Few employees translate into fewer workstations and a commiserate reduction in square footage. Of course, it is hard to determine the direct correlation between an investment in technology, the reduction in demand for employees, and a smaller real estate footprint, but if logic applies, one should be able to make the leap.

Technology can also allow employees who work at remote locations to connect quickly and eiciently without the expense of travel. Imagine if your Los Angeles oice can connect with your Kansas City headquarters through a teleconference instantaneously.

Let’s compare. For example, let’s consider a $25,000 investment in video conferencing technology. How long does it take for that investment to be recouped by a reduction in travel? OK. So, the video conferencing device allows two individuals in Los Angeles to connect and not travel weekly. A light from Los Angeles to Kansas City is roughly $400 round trip. Given the nature of the work, we may have to include an overnight stay and a per diem allocation. Let’s throw in $200 for a hotel and $100 for food.

We are now at $700 per person. That equates to $1400 for one trip. For the sake of argument, let’s not even consider the lack of billable time associated with traveling. Anyway, it would take just about eighteen (18) trips to retire the initial investment. Of course there will be some travel required, but it seems clear that the initial investment in embedded technology will drive proitability in any organization.

Come on, guys. Allow us to incorporate technology into your workplace and watch your proitability grow on the other side.

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THE NEED FOR MEASURED SPEED There are three variables in the development of any product or service; the quality, the cost of production, and the time invested to get to market. In a global, technologically supported competitive marketplace, speed is very important. Consumers are demanding the same or even a higher level of quality at the same cost. So, the only thing that we can do to respond is to produce a great product or provide a spectacular service more quickly than our competition. Speed drives many of our decisions. Speed is the essential ingredient to driving down costs. Speed is the fuel to innovation.

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CAN I HAVE THAT TOMORROW? ime is leeting. The more you live, the less you have. And the older I become, the more important time seems to become. As Shakespeare said, “Men shut their doors against a setting sun.” My interpretation: as we grow old, we simply stop doing that which is not important. With age, we recognize that time is slipping past us, and we do what we can to focus on those activities which are most important to each of us individually. It’s true. We really let some things simply fall of of the table as we grow old. I can tell you that I certainly have focused my sphere of activities. I do what I believe to be valuable. Shakespeare makes sense to me since I am over the hill and looking at that sunset in the distance. Granted, I am only in my early 50’s, but simple math leads one to recognize that I am at least halfway towards my demise.

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colleagues, I press for speed. We want to be done irst. We want to have the edge. We want to be the irst to bat. We all want to win, and speed is often that tool that we can use to get an edge. Frankly, I believe that it is an attitude that is very Midwestern in its inclination. Those on the east coast may want to be smarter than the others. On the west coast, they want to be more unique or creative. In the Midwest, hard work rules. Maybe it is the Germanic roots in our culture, but for some reason, hard work is always a strategy here in Ohio.

So, how can we work harder? How can we design the collective workplace to provide that edge for the institutions that we serve? When we begin to translate this need for speed to the modern workplace, we begin to recognize that we have many barriers to speed in place, that are often in place to promote civility, stability, and consistency. The industrial revolution focused on workers implementing processes based upon a

methodology that was tested and proven. Quality was often the driver. Today’s market place is not always driven by quality.

Often, the irst one to enter the game wins. Sure, continuous improvements will sustain success over the long run. But, in the short term, we simply need to win at speed.

Impediments to speed are buried deep within the traditional corporate workplace model. They often manifest through rewards for great service, or nested in our understanding of essential tools necessary to complete our jobs well. I am referencing the private oice, the large individual workstation, and the formal conference room. All of these spaces were designed to support control, quality review, and eiciency. So, when we take the private oice away from that executive who has “earned” this corner oice through a lifetime of service to an organization, that executive naturally takes great exception

to this act. Similarly, if you are an administrator and you believe that your strongest contribution is to help maintain the status quo, you need speciic tools to support that function.

The future work environment will provide greater reward through technology, access to natural light for all, and ample opportunities to quickly share knowledge. The future reward is driven by a diferent rewards system, and the design of tomorrow’s workplace will be rife with new initiatives intended to drive speed. These rewards may manifest in difering forms driven by regional or industry preference, but I can assure you that the era of the large corner oice, the individual workstation full of age old iles and comfortable protection, is long gone. As one of my friends from Texas stated on a telephone conversation today… “That dog won’t hunt.”

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SPEED

SPARK WORKPLACE ENGAGEMENT s we have determined from previous blog posts, speed to market is a critical need in tomorrow’s workplace. In order to promote speed, the workplace needs to support an agile working environment. Remove barriers, set the stage, promote engagement and collaboration, and watch innovation unfold more quickly right before your eyes. This is a topic that we have been exploring over the past ive years, since we became engaged more fully in the detailed design of innovative workplace environments. At WSA Studio, our work is not about how many awards we win, it’s more about the process of engaging in design to solve the complex challenges each of us face daily. With each project, we consider various methods to improve the human condition and we passionately explore how design fosters positive change for client organizations.

to be committed to their jobs and embedded into the fabric of their organization, and we know that the design of the space can contribute to this in part or in whole. There are other factors including technological support, interpersonal relationships with peers, and personal concerns, but if the space is designed well, all of these factors can be addressed and integrated.

In January 2011, our irm began an intentional journey to explore and research methods to foster innovation in the workplace through design. Each of these projects is a singular exploration of entrepreneurship. With each decision, we are seeking to make occupants engaged. We want the occupants of each workplace

So, if the end result is initiated by engagement, we must irst seek to increase the level of engagement by employees in their workplace. WSA Studio is exploring opportunities to increase engagement daily.

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Once a worker is engaged, their productivity will increase.

Engagement settles the employee into a working relationship with the employer and elevates the potential for that employee to be collaborative. Once collaboration with peers commences, knowledge sharing will foster creative approaches and innovation will WWoriginate. Engagement leads to collaboration which results in innovation.

Lessons learned and methods to foster employee engagement include: 1. Provide both individual privacy and a range of opportunities for collaboration with peers in close proximity to one another. Too often, our spaces are designed with conferencing and collaborative space remote from the place where work actually occurs. Let’s face it: there is little time to formalize many of our collaborative moments which occur in an ad hoc manner.

If there are distributed spaces to support collaboration, they will be used.

2. Vary the types of conferencing space that are provided. Consider various sizes and technological accommodations in order to diversify the opportunities and support a range of meeting types and personal preferences.

We have been trying to break down the size of conference rooms and ofer smaller rooms in larger numbers. Research suggests that a majority of meetings include fewer than ive persons.

3. Consider public space as an opportunity for knowledge sharing. We all know that we often learn more about a project through talking over cofee or at the water cooler.

4. Recognize that everyone needs a place to call their own, even if that space is very small and much of the work that they do is outside of the oice.

5. Provide mobile tools for each worker which cut the tether to their desk. If every associate is equipped with a laptop and a mobile phone, they can work anywhere and make more efective use of their time. Additionally, they can seek out the best environment for their working methodology.

6. Address acoustics. Nothing is more disruptive than workplace acoustical disturbances.

7. Provide places for team recognition and group celebration. It is imperative that we huddle up every once and a while to remember that we are all part of a team with a broader mission than our own individual tasks and priorities.

8. Integrate distributed resources into the personal work space.

9. There is no “one size its all” solution, even within the same working group.

10. Be mindful of transitions. We all take time to transition from one activity to another and we need to consider this when we design workplaces.

WENDY'S 90° LAB In an efort to recruit the constant next generation of young professionals, Wendy’s chose a space at the South Campus Gateway on The Ohio State University’s campus for their new technology innovation and recruitment center. The space is designed to provide diverse settings which accommodate both individual experience and group collaboration. Conference rooms are distributed throughout and coupled with collaborative touch-base areas. The oice space lows to an exterior patio overlooking a vibrant urban arts space.

All spaces are supported by embedded technologies which allow associates to connect to their partners at remote locations. The design features durable materials applied in clever ways, an extension of Wendy’s corporate color palette, and a mock pointof-sale test station.

These tips are foundational to a culture of speed.

Spark workplace engagement. Support collaboration between associates. Foster innovation. Watch your milestones whoosh by as the speed of your organization increases. I actually think it’s that easy.

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THE MAGICAL COMBINATION hy do we want to be irst? Why is it that America is fascinated by the concept of winning? Being irst?

Being best? This concept is in our DNA and can be traced back to the freedoms our ancestors chirped through coming here.

Our country ofers a balance between individual liberties and connection to the common good. We take great pride in our freedom and our individual liberties, and it seems that we believe that if we end up in second, we hold the potential to be “falling behind.” Truth is, we don’t fall behind, we simply shift our values, which is ironically at the root of freedom. Americans compete to win in sports, academically, in the arts, in research, in business, and in countless other arenas. We compete. We want to win.

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We gain our value through these individual contributions to society. And of course, we want to win in the workplace. If we win there, we will gain access to inancial freedom, the ability to have greater inluence in society, and achieve a respected status.

In the end, we just want to it in and contribute. This explains the pressure to succeed; however, the there are many paths to success besides speed. Quality is one measure of potential. Logic suggests that quality is the best way to guarantee success. But quality also typically comes with higher costs and may limit market appeal. Not to mention the time investment that is often necessary to achieve the highest level of quality. So, in our market, what

usually succeeds are those products and/or services which blend quality, afordability, and innovation to meet a market demand.

History has shown that the irst product to the market may not stick if it’s quality is compromised. One needs to place enough development into a product to ensure acceptable quality and then be relatively early to release in order to diferentiate.

One wants to be new, inventive, quality, and necessary. That magical combination will further success. So, organizations need workplaces to be designed to drive speed, innovation, and quality which seems like an impossible task, especially when the deinitions are always shifting. They are dynamic. As an architect, we are trained to take the long view when we consider

the design of a space. We know your investment might be the last one made in a lifetime, so we seek to anticipate change and design workplace environments to adapt and absorb these shifts in values or priorities.

Speed is supported through a design which is lexible. Short term planning often creates ixed situations which quickly become irrelevant. Long term planning drives a more agile design and your investment should be able to absorb those changes which come with organizational evolution. Ironically, designing space that is less successful at meeting today’s speciic demands will drive speed in the long run.

REMEMBER CAPITALISM? he United States of America was founded by groups seeking personal freedom. Our entire society is directed toward the rights of individuals and their (your) ability to make decisions is driven by personal choice within legal boundaries. Our economic system (capitalism) supports the actions of each individual. When we earn money, we are able to use that money as we see it. Well, after we pay our taxes. There is that. But, as a whole, our capitalistic society promotes proits for business owners who directly beneit from their team’s hard work or the demand for their talent or idea. Many of our citizens believe that if you become educated, apply yourself, and have a great idea or talent, you can further your status and achieve a comfortable lifestyle.

Riches come to those who control the game, those who “capitalize” on the context, and those who are irst to market with a concept, idea, or service. Conversely, as the saying goes, “If you snooze, you lose.”

T SPEED

If you look at our culture in the United States, we place a lot of emphasis on winning. From an early age, we are thrust into an academic setting that is based upon competition.

When I was a young boy at South School, I realized pretty quickly that we were in competition with our neighbors and I received positive reinforcement when I did well academically.

Others excelled in athletics. Some in music or the arts. Yes, we were rewarded for our work and given a grade relative to the performance of our peers. The life lesson was clear: if one works hard and applies themselves to the work at hand, or if you have a great idea, or if you practice your skills, you would be on your way to success in life. You got an “A.” On the other hand, if you did not apply yourself, or if you could not muster the proper skills, you were destined for failure. We even skipped the letter “E” to give those kids an “F.” Pretty harsh reality. You failed. A bit dramatic, but the truth nonetheless.

This was the way that we told the story in post-world war America. It was a pretty simple equation to solve. Work hard and gain success. Slack of, you fail. Similarly, if you had a great idea and did a quality job, you would attract customers and win the game of life. This was life in the 70’s and 80’s.

I took the bait, hook, line, and sinker, and did remarkably well in my professional development during high school and the irst few years of my undergraduate degree, since I was able to play by the rules and get my work done well.

But, then along came architecture’s upper level curriculum, and I was thrust into a world rife with complexity. During my irst quarter at OSU, I found out that I couldn’t it everything that I needed to do into my day, since I was pushing for a high level of quality on all of my projects, and my grades sufered. Quickly, I learned that the key was to get everything completed to a level that was simply above average and then focus on inding that one thing that needed deeper exploration. When I igured all of that out, my grades began to improve. Time management was critical in architecture school, and I really couldn’t igure out a reason. Why did the

professors give us so much work? They had to know that it was relatively impossible to complete all of the work. It seemed like there was a plot to weed us out from the program (which happened in droves). Later, I came to understand that balancing the demands on our time was key to becoming an architect, and they wanted to ensure that those who completed the curriculum knew how to deal with the pressures. Ironically, to this day, time management remains my biggest issue in practice. We always have too much to do in too little time. It is implicit in architectural service, since there is no inite answer to the many problems that we solve for our clients.

Meanwhile, while I was struggling with time management in architectural school, most of my friends (not all) had less demand on their time and were able to balance life and school pretty well. They gave of their time in service or social organizations, and sharpened their interpersonal skills throughout college while they studied the liberal arts, business, education, or an allied profession. They graduated with a deep understanding of how quality efort can inluence their success, but they were never really introduced to the rigorous demands created by compressed time frames. They entered the workplace in the late 1980’s and began to contribute to a work culture based upon the 20th century model, and many of them had instant success. Enter technology and a drive towards globalized economic pressures.

Around 1990, the game changed. No longer was being a good kid who followed all of the rules enough. Access to the American dream changed and new parameters were introduced which complicated the formula for economic success in the United States. When we consider today’s route to success, playing by the rules to create the highest quality is not always the best way to go to market. Conversely, we ind that some folks who skipped right past major steps have been very successful (think Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame). Timing has a lot to do with today’s success, since ideas, products, and service approaches can be quickly observed, translated, and copied. So, businesses need to be quick to get their products to market, and processes need to change to support this demand for speed. Quick decision-making can make the diference between a product or service being successful or a failure, and the workplace needs

to be designed to support this fast pace. Gone are the days of linear processes with folks placed in isolation to ensure quality work. Quality work that is done too late doesn’t matter today.

Speed wins. Every time. At least for now.

In the future, what will win the game? If the 20th century was about quality, and speed is today’s diferentiator, what will guarantee success in the future? The workplace of the future will blend speed with high quality. Imagine an atmosphere which allows employees to collaborate towards innovation AND test these models in real time. Both environments need to be supported and both must be present and inform the other.

So, if the old model was driven by quality and our workers sat in isolation, and today’s model is all about open oice environments which drive innovation and speed to market, the future will provide both privacy and openness in peaceful coexistence. Architects and interior designers need to address this need, and in order to provide the most efective designs, they need to be involved with decisions beyond the coniguration and speciication of walls, doors, mechanical systems, and inishes.

The architect needs to drive the speciications for technology, computing tools, communication devices, and furniture systems. All of these components collect to make a workplace that is supportive of focus and collaboration. Each worker must be equipped with mobile computing tools and untethered from a dedicated location. Workers need freedom and the ability to make individual choices to suit their work process, and we need to recognize that their needs will shift from collaborative and open to private and secluded quickly. All of the building systems should have individual controls within each space as well, since the control of lighting, heating and cooling, and sound is often paramount to success. It really comes down to supporting individual choice…that freedom which is at the heart of our representative government.

Workers with individual choices, arranged to support an organizational mission, are at the heart of American capitalism.

When we empower our workers, we enable efective production driven by speed to market. Top quality at warp speed: the new goal of American capitalism.

FALL 2016 |

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