TUESDAY MAY 11, 2021

The Upfront

The workplace industry needs to think outside its ever-shrinking boxes

A few people besides your ever-loyal contingent at TWS have begun to notice that there may be a structural problem with how our industry thinks about the workplace. The editors over at Workplace Insight in the UK have now picked up this thread as well.

Is the workplace industry stuck in the past, in a 20th century model of how and where work is done? The separation of work and the rest of life during the Industrial Age has shaped the structures of modern life: the houses we live in, the offices, factories and shops we work in, and the transport networks that shuffle us from one location to another for different activities. It has also shaped the planning system, the institutional and financial structures of how places are designed and built, and perhaps most of all the mindsets of just about everyone involved in creating places to work and live.

Yet we have known for more than three decades that work is bursting out from its 20th century boundaries. New technology tools, networks and aspirations for more choice reverse the assumptions around where is best to work.

Once there were genuine benefits in concentrating the resources needed for work. Now it’s often more advantageous to decentralise. Work can increasingly go to where people are, rather than shifting people to where the work is.

Unfortunately, we don’t see a great deal of new thinking from the workplace industry – or from planners– that addresses the issues and opportunities around the extended workplace.

Instead we find visions of “yesterday, tweaked a bit”. The focus is still primarily on the collective workplace. It will be smaller, for sure. Activity-based work settings may finally put the nail in the coffin of desk-dominated office design. But the collective workplace is still envisaged as the dominant place to work.

Making great places to work is now front and center topic – and should provide exciting opportunities for the workplace industry to address.

Landscape Forms Celebrates Three 2021 GREEN GOOD DESIGN® Awards

Landscape Forms, North America’s leading designer and manufacturer of high-design site furniture, structure, LED lighting, and accessories, announces that it has won three 2021 GREEN GOOD DESIGN® Awards.

GREEN GOOD DESIGN is a special edition of the renowned GOOD DESIGN Awards program, presented jointly in 2021 by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. With the mission of “Build A Better World Now,” the awards celebrate products representing the most advanced “Green Approach” and the most sophisticated methods and technologies to make a positive impact on the environment.

The Landscape Forms awards span a range of its product categories—from outdoor lighting, to bench and lounge seating. The winning products include Motive lighting, the Glide bench and the Americana lounge chair.

Office of the Future

In a recent report titled “The Nowhere Office,” consultant Julia Hobsbawm describes the radical changes that COVID-19 will bring to the workplace. The past year has upended the traditional connection between work and place, resulting in remote employees feeling untethered. But the flexibility that working from home brings is undeniable. In a post-pandemic world, the office will include multiple settings. “This new hybrid space where ‘the office’ is, will be multi-site, never 9–5, and flexible in its working patterns,” Hobsbawm writes.

The report, published by the Demos Workshift Commission, a British think tank, describes an identity crisis of place. In the previous paradigm, place dictated activity. Simply put, we “went” to work. In the post-COVID era, however, activity will more frequently influence place. As more employees can decide where to fulfill the requirements of their jobs, work will come to them. This is certainly not a new phenomenon, but COVID-19 proved the viability of remote work and helped accelerate the change.

Nevertheless, place still matters. Environmental factors profoundly influence our health, productivity, and overall outlook. Work will still need to happen somewhere to be effective. Even if the traditional office is now obsolete, tomorrow’s workplace—wherever it is—will require no less attention to function, innovation, and craft.

Office is the new social hub for a third of workers

More than a third (37 percent) of US and UK office workers describe the prospect of going back to the office as the equivalent of going out to meet with friends, according to a new study by Chargifi.

Over a quarter (28 percent) of respondents also said they are now prepared to spend more money and commute for longer to reunite with colleagues. Many also anticipate easier collaboration (60 percent), and better productivity (52 percent) once they get there.

The study also echos recent Microsoft research findings which suggest that hybrid home and office working schedules are expected to become a widespread norm. Chargifi’s survey claims that over half (54 percent) expect to visit the office between two and three days a week. Approaching four in 10 (38 percent) also expect to choose when they come to the office and when they leave.

However, it also suggested that many workers are nervous about workspace logistics, post-lockdown. A third expect the chance to book a particular desk before going to the office, and feel there will be more competition for the best seats and locations.

Meanwhile, a quarter (25 percent) worry about being able to find the right kind of working or collaborative spaces. Over a third (34 percent) expect their employers to make more collaborative zones available (34 percent), while almost four in 10 want extra quiet working areas (37 percent).

Planning a post-pandemic office? Here's how much it will cost

The pandemic has pushed companies around the world to rethink their offices. Whether they’re shifting to hybrid work models or eliminating dedicated desks, offices are likely to look a lot different than they did in early 2020.

The changes won’t be cheap. According to real estate company JLL’s 2021 U.S. and Canada Office Fit Out Guide, the pandemic is significantly changing the way that offices are laid out and set up, from floorplans to technology to furniture. The construction costs are changing, too.

On the higher end of the spectrum, the guide suggests office fit outs can range up to an average cost of $243 per square foot.

These costs are related to three major trends reshaping office spaces, according to JLL. The most immediate is that some companies will have a partially remote workforce with many employees only coming into the office a few days per week or month. Shifting the interior spaces of offices for this lower headcount will require new floorplans, furniture, and meeting spaces. “The share of budget spent on workstations, which in the past would have filled most open areas of an office, is transitioning to more custom furniture solutions that adapt for different types of work, by different users, who are in the office on different days,” says Henry D’Esposito, JLL Construction Research Lead.

Related to those changes, offices will likely be investing more in technologies that enable a hybrid work style, including better audio-visual equipment and more spaces for private and group video conferences. “Beyond just adding technology into existing room designs, the next step is designing the space around the technology,” says D’Esposito. “One example of this is virtual-first conference spaces that treat the experience for video participants as the primary goal, rather than an afterthought.”

Given the pandemic’s major impacts on mental and physical health, more companies are expected to invest in wellness and sustainability amenities, like better lighting, better air ventilation, and access to outdoor spaces.

Of course the overall cost depends on what each company wants to do, and how extensively they redesign. JLL breaks down the possible office changes into a matrix of design styles and material quality. The guide is based on data from more than 3,000 buildings in the U.S. and Canada.

Opinion: As a CEO, I worry about the erosion of office culture with more remote work

Like many of my fellow small-business owners, I am excited about the prospect of returning to in-person work but am struggling with when and how to safely reopen our office — how many days a week, vaccination requirements, mask mandates and so on. But also like my peers, I am concerned about the unfortunately common office worker who wants to continue working at home and just go into the office on occasion.

In several group calls with chief executives, I’ve found a great sense of pride in how well our teams have done during the past year. However, we all started at a place where we and our employees knew one another, which made remote work considerably easier and more productive. We also could rely on office cultures — established practices, unspoken rules and shared values, established over years in large part by people interacting in person. Now, we face re-creating a workplace where a good culture of trust will be harder to build.

One of the biggest issues we talk about is an apparent age gap. Anecdotally, I’ve heard from many CEOs that their older, more senior employees — working from comfortable homes and happy to be relieved of commuting — are more reluctant to go back to the office than their younger colleagues, many of whom have been working from small apartments or their parents’ homes. Some research supports that: Commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield reported last year that 70 percent of millennial and Generation X workers “struggle more” with the challenges of working from home, and consulting firm PwC found that fewer than 1 in 5 executives wanted to return to the shared workplace as it was before the pandemic.

For business owners, this disparity poses a real problem. As the economy rebounds, we need to hire and attract talent. To do so, we will need leaders on site. Consider the son of a friend of mine, a young investment banker who was courted by two firms last fall. One said that its employees wouldn’t be back in their offices for at least a year; the other said that theirs would be back as soon as it felt safe. He picked the latter. He didn’t want to spend another year working remotely. Most importantly, he wanted to be around a brain trust of more senior people whom he could learn from and connect with. How will we persuade new employees to come aboard, and, more importantly, stay, if they don’t have leaders they can build solid in-person relationships with?

Rethinking the Modern Workplace

Recently, Coalesse sat down with a panel of industry leaders with one question in mind – What Could Be? The conversation covered topics including sustainability, wellness and what tomorrow’s offices might look like. Hybrid models, tech integration and a focus on wellness in the workplace are important changes needed to return to the office in a post-COVID world.

Read on for some of the short-term changes Coalesse is already seeing - and implementing - in the workplace.

• Take Work Outside

Outdoor workspaces have been on the rise for years — originally intended to create spaces designed to get away, take a break and get some fresh air. Now, outdoor workspaces serve an additional role. Stepping outside of the typical indoor work environment gives employees a chance to rejuvenate, refocus or just work in a new setting. According to designers, developers and landlords, it’s an emerging trend that will shape the way workplaces look and feel for years to come.

• Rethink Collaboration

Collaboration has always been essential to success in the workplace, but with recent in-person teamwork as a challenge, supporting collaborative work will require new solutions and expanded social spaces as we get back to the office. The traditional one-to-one desk arrangement has been eclipsed by more flexible, accessible workspaces that allow multiple employees to come together and work in the social setting where they feel most comfortable. When working hybrid, a shared flexible touchdown space becomes the necessary community center at work where collaboration, social time and productivity all meet.

• Connect with Tech

On the virtual side of the hybrid model, remote workers are now relying more than ever on digital collaboration tools. Video conferencing and digital whiteboards enable employees to stay connected even when not in face-to-face settings. Since new spaces and portable tech tools facilitating this type of virtual teamwork have become essential, Steelcase has seen a rise in demand for mobile tables, carts and partitions. Digital whiteboards also remain on the rise, so workers at home can see what’s being written in real time.

• Design for a Multi-Generational Workforce

Socialization and mentorship between teams and demographics has become an important part of ensuring workplace happiness. Generational differences — and similarities — between how colleagues work together can affect workspaces and we approach the amenities available in the modern office. “In some ways, it might be surprising: the younger generations are so social that I think they like coming into the workplace to connect. They love the sense of being around others and building on and learning from each other and the older generations,” said John Hamilton, Global Design Director for Coalesse.

The New Hybrid Sciences Office Will Blend Tech, Hospitality, Brand Design, and Storytelling

Our clients in the sciences have the power to change the trajectory of human life. To cultivate work environments that enable our sciences clients to develop effective vaccines, life-saving therapies, and innovative products and technologies, we must look beyond traditional conventions of buildings and workspaces as places that optimize performance.

Buildings and spaces are now about elevating connectivity with people; that connectivity builds trust, which in turn leads to collaboration, and elevates culture — all leading to more idea generation. To create a new hybrid sciences workplace that empowers people to connect and collaborate, where innovation can thrive, we must design space with an entirely different mindset — a mindset around aggregation.

The Power of Aggregation

We believe that the future is about blending science with unexpected influences that haven’t been merged before. Imagine what comes about when you infuse a science lab with the collaborative elements of tech workplaces, which are masterful at creating synergies between people. Blend in hospitality’s experiential attributes, which evoke how space makes your people feel, beyond just how it works. The incorporation of brand design, which celebrates who you are and, more importantly, what you believe in. Lastly, storytelling as the glue that fuses all three influences with science to tell the world how your people altered the outlook of human life.

Lead With Heart

Our tech workplace experience taught us that creating a heart within a space — a central hub and destination for connection — is how you form community; it’s where a company’s culture, mission, and purpose is felt. The heart should be a synergistic space where people see, meet, and build relationships with each other. What if we coupled this idea with the lab, the heart of any research organization? Doing this puts the science on display, allowing your potential recruits and future investors to feel the heart and soul of your organization. It puts your culture, your people, and your science together, thereby creating a gravity point for your organization.

Citigroup Embraces Both Hybrid Work and the Centrality of the Office

Citigroup recently stepped out in favor of hybrid work – a move that sets it apart from many financial institutions.

An announcement from newly minted Chief Executive Jane Fraser went out to the company's 210,000 global employees describing the company's new policy, although many of the details are yet to be finalized.

“The pandemic has stretched our capacity for innovative thinking, for solving problems. It has opened doors to new ways of working and shown that we are able to adapt to and even flourish amid adversity," Fraser said.

Three flavors of work

Citi will support three different models of work: Hybrid, Resident and Remote.

• Hybrid - this will be the majority of roles globally, according to Fraser. Hybrid workers will go to the office three days a week and be remote the other two. “This is not just a scheduling exercise; we will be thoughtful about when we ask colleagues to be in the office together,” she wrote.

• Resident applies to roles that cannot be performed offsite, such as branch-based or data-center jobs.

• Remote roles will allow colleagues to perform their functions from outside a Citi location. Apart from roles that were remote before the pandemic, such as those supporting our contact centers, new Remote roles will be somewhat rare.

But first a work reset

Prior to reopening, Fraser is hitting the "reset" button. Citi is enacting three measures meant to address "the blurring of lines between home and work and the relentlessness of the pandemic workday have taken a toll on our well-being."

• Zoom-Free Fridays - employees are being discouraged from holding internal zoom meetings.

• Limiting calls outside of traditional work hours - undoubtedly a challenge for a company that stretches across all time zones.

• Taking vacation time, including “Citi Reset Day” on Friday, May 28 - “so you can plan a day where we are all off and your emails and phones are quiet.”

The Future Workspace That Isn't the Workplace

As we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been much speculation and debate about whether we will return to our old habits of working in the office 5 days a week, or if working from home creates equal or greater productivity. However, many believe that the future of the workforce will largely be focused on a balance between in-person and in-office working, and a form of remote working, that summates into a new, hybrid model. But if you’re not at home, and you’re not working, then you must be somewhere else- exploring the true in-between of a public and a private space. Enter the concept of the “third” place, which is used to describe everything from coffee shops to banks, and even co-working spaces. If you’ve ever studied for an exam at a bookstore, or even dropped into an airport restaurant to catch up on some work, then you too, have visited a “third” place.

The term “third place” was first dubbed by Ray Oldenburg, a world-renowned sociologist who wrote The Great Good Place in 1989. In his book, which was a direct response to the privatization of home life that came with the increase in suburb growth, he claimed that if our homes were the “first” place, and our offices the “second” place, then the “third” place was most everything in between- or the more informal places where community gatherings would occur. These spaces are easily accessible by all and serve as anchors to modern society.

The desire for these spaces has significantly increased, especially as the world looks ahead to life after the COVID-19pandemic, and we begin to understand how the consumer landscape can blend with design in a way that adapts to an evolving workforce that seeks out places that encourage repetitive visits and long-term stays. Think, for example, of the Starbucks you most frequently visit. You often see people spending time working alone or together- activities that are enabled by WiFi connectivity, comfortable lounge seating, and an ambiance that not only provides convenient food and beverage options but a strong brand presence and design aesthetic that eludes a sort of blueprint for success. The action of finding a place to sit, work, and drink a coffee in a place that isn’t your home or your office gives a sense of casual independence.

Office Fit Outs Poised For Huge Shift Post-COVID

All eyes are on the office sector as the country climbs out of the COVID-10 pandemic, and one thing appears certain: the physical office as we knew it is in for a dramatic makeover.

A new JLL report about office fit outs notes that one-size-fits-all solutions are a thing of the past as office users test new models, modify existing programs, and prioritize flexibility and choice in their space planning considerations. It identifies three key trends driving the priorities of office occupiers: mobility and the new partially remote workforce, technology-centric design to support new ways of working, and a focus on wellness and sustainability that’s integrated through office design.

More than half of corporate employers expect their people to work from home at least two days a week post-COVID, according to JLL research, and that means fewer companies will provide every employee with a permanent desk. Office design will thus emphasize custom collaboration and community spaces, JLL says in the report, with heads-down workspaces available on an as-needed basis.  From a cost perspective, this means the cost per square foot will generally be higher than a standard office with dedicated workspaces–but some employers may choose slightly smaller footprints since fewer employees will likely be onsite at any given time.

JLL also notes that “a permanent shift  to virtual collaboration will require the reimagination of the technology setups in many existing office designs today.” This translates into more conference rooms, huddle rooms, and flex collaborative spaces that allow for video calls and presentations. The scope and quality of tech improvements office occupiers consider will directly impact cost when it comes to this trend, and JLL advises occupiers considering building or renovating office space this year to steer away from relying on benchmarks from previous years: “The quantity of technology in an average office is forecast to continue rising, which will mean increased complexity to support a more robust technology suite,” the report notes.

Nearly Half of Remote Workers Intend To Move This Year

Nearly half of all remote workers surveyed by ApartmentList say they’ll move over the next year, and four in 10 expect they’ll continue to have remote or flex work post-pandemic. 

About 19% of the 5,000 US workers surveyed by the firm expect to have a hybrid arrangement allowing for WFH several days per week, while 21% say they think they’ll have the ability to work exclusively from home.

These trends are driving moving activity already, ApartmentList said in a recent analysis of the data: 19% have already moved over the last year, and 42% say they’ll move sometime over the next 12 months.  Of those, 35% intend to relocate to a more affordable market, more than double the rate for on-site workers, “indicating that we may see an outflow of remote workers from the nation’s most expensive housing markets going forward,” ApartmentList notes. “This finding also highlights the important equity implications of remote work—on-site jobs are lower paid, on average, but on-site workers have less flexibility to relocate in search of more affordable housing.”

Sundar Pichai finally publicly embraces remote work for Google

Sundar sent the following email to Google employees last week. 

Hi Googlers,

We’ve spent the last year focused on supporting employees during the pandemic. I hope the extra benefits such as Carer’s Leave, the work-from-home allowance, the extra reset days, and the ability to work from wherever you need have been helpful in getting through this tough time.

And we’re not through it yet. It’s heartbreaking to see COVID surging in places like  India, Brazil, and many others around the world. If you live in one of these places, please focus on taking care of yourselves and your loved ones right now. We are here to support however we can. 

In other areas, conditions are less dire and people are beginning to open up their lives and think about returning to the office. In fact, in places where we’ve been able to reopen Google offices in a voluntary capacity, we’ve seen nearly 60% of Googlers choosing to come back to the office. 

For more than 20 years, our employees have been coming to the office to solve interesting problems — in a cafe, around a whiteboard, or during a pickup game of beach volleyball or cricket. Our campuses have been at the heart of our Google community and the majority of our employees still want to be on campus some of the time. Yet many of us would also enjoy the flexibility of working from home a couple days of week, spending time in another city for part of the year, or even moving there permanently. Google’s future workplace will have room for all of these possibilities. 

Over the last year, a team within REWS has been reimagining a hybrid workplace to help us collaborate effectively across many work environments. They’re testing new multi-purpose offices and private workspaces, and working with teams to develop advanced video technology that creates greater equity between employees in the office and those joining virtually. All of these efforts will help us work with greater flexibility and choice once we’re able to return to our offices globally. 

That flexibility will come in a few different forms — and your product areas and functions will share more details on all of these changes by mid-June. Here are the key principles: 

• A more flexible work week: 
  We’ll move to a hybrid work week where most Googlers spend approximately three days in the office and two days wherever they work best. Since in-office time will be focused on collaboration, your product areas and functions will help decide which days teams will come together in the office. There will also be roles that may need to be on site more than three days a week due to the nature of the work. 

Slowly, WFH Fatigue is Setting In Among Some Employees

When JLL surveyed workers in April 2020, people said they want to work from home two days a week. When it asked the same question of 3,300 employees this March, people said they wanted to work 1.5 days from home. A third of workers have no desire to work from home.

But that wasn’t the only finding supporting the idea that work from home fatigue may be setting in. Last year, 48% of respondents said they were more productive at home than in the office. That number fell to 37% this year. Still, 88% want to choose their working hours. JLL also found at least 75% of workers missed being in the office at least part of the time and 80% prefer a hybrid approach.

What companies are doing about work-from-home fatigue

A year into the pandemic, there are growing signs of fatigue with homeworking.

People’s ideal number of remote work days is slipping, according to a March survey. They feel less productive at home than a year ago. Even though the majority want flexibility in choosing when and where they work, a growing part of the workforce doesn’t want to work from home at all in the future.

“While working from home extensively, people feel stuck in an ‘endless day’ and they are losing the notion of time,” says Flore Pradere, Research Director, Global Corporate Research, JLL. “Employees are aspiring to more balanced working patterns.”

While work is likely to be far more flexible than before the pandemic, companies in recent months have been reckoning with exactly how they will implement hybrid structures to satisfying what both employees and companies require.

What employees say they require has changed over the course of the pandemic. In the JLL survey of 3,300 employees conducted in March, people said they want to work from home 1.5 days a week. This was down from 2 days in a similar JLL survey conducted last April.

Only 37% of the workforce now feels more productive at home than in the office, as opposed to 48% last year. And while 88% of respondents still want to choose their working hours, a third do not want to work from home at all.

In response to shifting sentiments, companies are trying to bring people back to the office to help spur the kind of innovative and collaborative thinking that happens in person, while keeping schedules loose. 
Approaches vary widely. Ford Motor Company, for example, recently said it would transition in July to a “flexible hybrid work model” that allows people to stay home for heads-down work, and come into the office for projects that are collaborative. Bloomberg, on the other hand, reportedly told all employees to return to the office once vaccinated.

Suburban Office Stalwart Launches Flex Office Brand In 5 Cities

A nationwide owner of suburban office properties is rolling out an in-house flexible coworking operation to try to take advantage of the shifting nature of the workplace.

Bridge Commercial Real Estate — the Atlanta-based subsidiary of Bridge Investment Group — is opening an initial 158K SF of flex office space in five metro areas. The spaces are geared toward big companies wanting suburban stopovers for their employees.

Named Abridge, the flex office program is expected to grow to 1M SF across Bridge's national portfolio, which spans more than 14M SF of office space in more than 100 properties in 15 states.

Bridge Commercial CEO Jeff Shaw said the company is hoping to lure big tenants that want smaller locations with all the trappings of coworking, including a central open-space hub and café offerings for employees, without having to sign more than a year's lease.

“What we're trying to do is solve for enterprise users who are trying to protect their own brand, but have some of the same needs that coworking has solutions for,” Shaw said.

Flex Office Users Are Taking Less Space For a Shorter Term

Office occupiers demanded agility in office space selection last year, according to a new report—a trend that drove the average flex workspace requirement size down by 29% and dropped average initial term length by a month. 

New research from The Instant Group shows that Phoenix led US cities for increases in workstation rates last year, with an increase of 39%, followed by Nashville (14%); Denver (11%), and Austin (3%).

On the flip side, cities with the largest drops in cost-per-desk were NYC Midtown (-29%), Washington, DC (-23%), Boston (-22%), and Los Angeles (-18%). Demand also rose 22% in Denver and 20% in Austin, while it dropped by 9% in San Francisco and by 8% in Chicago. And while demand dropped by 14% in New York City, it rose significantly in the surrounding suburbs: demand went up by 200% in Harrison, NY, by 250% in New Rochelle, NY, and by 60% in Greenwich, Conn.

In some cities, like Boston, the traditional office market actually continued to rise during the pandemic while the demand for flex or agile space decreased. In Boston, traditional office costs increased by 6% year-over-year in 2020, according to JLL data, while flexible workstation rates decreased by 22%.

Flex space providers were also forced to rethink growth strategies last year, with both large and small providers readjusting in response to the pandemic. IWG remained a dominant force, according to Instant Group analysts, with 15% of the market, while WeWork’s market share reduced as its footprint decreased, with the onetime giant commanding 4.5% of market share by the first quarter of this year. Overall, small providers still make up more than three-quarters of the market.

PODCAST: How meeting technology is changing for the hybrid workplace

While a slow return to the office is underway, collaborating virtually remains the norm, with teams often still split between home and the workplace.

It’s highlighted a surprising issue: When it comes to collaborating over software, offices can be seen lagging behind.

“Working from home we learned that we could operate on-demand very easily in a software-only environment. We could hold a 10-person meeting effectively just by sending out a URL and pressing a button to start,” says John Corbett, head of workplace strategy at Cisco Systems Inc. “We’ve returned to the office and to do the same thing you’ve got to book a meeting room, find it, plug things in and so forth, and suddenly it’s looking quite hard.”

Cisco, which owns the teleconferencing and networking platform WebEx, is evolving its technology to help the workplace connect with people rather than the other way around by leveraging existing workplace devices. This means workers can, for example, transfer between different areas of an office mid-call or conference call without having to tap codes into devices or switch buttons.

Scandinavian Spaces Sparks Creativity and Imagination

Scandinavian Spaces delivers a collection that reinspires the design community.  While the majority of companies are scaling back or consolidating, Scandinavian Spaces has been busy growing exponentially and expanding product offerings for like-minded creatives. The spring product launch features a combination of sharp, sophisticated furniture and boastfully vivacious designs.  Dedicated to offering stylishly sustainable Scandinavia furniture to the contract market, the collection is inspirational and undeniably refreshing.

Product highlights include…

· Ro - Incredibly calming, Ro sends out an invitation for relaxation.  The lounge chair and sofa provide an unforgettable experience of immersion and much needed restful retreat in the workplace.  With a soft, full seat and cozy armrests, Ro is built for all day security and ease. The armchair and sofa are upholstered with a unique elastic mesh that provides a soft, flexible feel. Offered in a wide range of frame color options, Ro is commanding, durable, and extremely comfortable.

· Big Talk - Big Talk earns all of its bragging rights.  The inviting, circular throne redefines the art of lounging.  Designed to stand alone or grouped together – Big Talk offers a range of sophisticated pairings to accommodate a variety of interior spaces.   When joined, the lounge chairs create a modular love seat in a beautiful, undulating spectrum of colorful bands. Snaking around in an intriguing arrangement of design, both the seat and backrest are shaped out of molded foam and are offered in a variety of different shades of velvet.   Designed by furniture designer Adam Goodrum, the piece was inspired by textile swatches and the fanning blocks of color created when sampling.

· Sander - Graceful and poised, Sander is a true expression of Scandinavia creativity.  The sleek, slender armchair portrays a subtle nod to the beloved 1950’s era of design, while staying classically modern and stylishly sophisticated.  With a curved veneer back and gentle contour, the wooden chair effortlessly balances its distinct design with all day comfort.  Available with or without armrests and an optional padded seat or back, Sander provides durable, functional art to high-traffic interior spaces.

· Bolero - Fashionably sharp, the Bolero ottoman makes a playful addition.  With a distinctive look and sleek style, the tailored ottoman effortlessly complements the Bolero sofa series. Although the ottoman is available in all the same finishing details and colors as its family, contrasting features make for an intriguing pop of interest in the lounge area, lobby, or workplace.  An ode to fashion by name, the regal Bolero ottoman can be fashioned as a footstool or an extra resting place.

· Popsicle - Enjoy Popsicle indoors, enjoy Popsicle outside.  The versatile recycling bin was designed to play inside as well as built to withstand harsh outdoor conditions.  Playful in aesthetics and unique in style, Popsicle has a rounded top and square bottom.  The recycling unit is made from steel, lacquered with a high-quality powder coating, and has added rust protection to withstand harsh conditions. Popsicle inlets are available on the front and back, and the unit is offered in a wide range of trend setting hues.

With a strong foothold on design and constant push past creative boundaries, Scandinavian Spaces delivers a curated catalog of bold products that embrace and celebrate the future of design.

A Novel Lounge Seating Inspired by the New Generation

NARBUTAS introduces the new lounge seating system SOFT ROCK, which represents the constant changes of office space and people that work there. The new generation of employees inspired the Danish design studio Strand+Hvass to create a collection, which adds more freedom and mobility to modern offices and forms a relaxing environment for both rest and work.

“From the very beginning, we tried to define the needs of the new generation. How and from what kind of places people choose to work. What we see now are the changes. Not only the desk but also soft seating in lounge areas becomes a workplace for employees. Thus, the demand for more casual, relaxed working spaces is increasing, with, at the same time, the need for constant motion,” say designers Niels Hvass and Christina Strand.

Based on the findings of Pew Research Center, already 2016 can be called a transitional year. That year marked the start of a generational shift in the workforce, and Generation Y became the largest generation in the labour force bringing along a change in the work environment with them. It was this generation that shaped the approach that an office, or a formal setting, must not restrict or otherwise affect the ability to work successfully from any place.

According to Simonas Savickas, Workplace Design Specialist at NARBUTAS, a casual environment creates a relaxed atmosphere, promotes more interaction and collaboration among people, boosts motivation levels.

“The traits exhibited by Millennials such as openness to discovering and trying new things, a sense of freedom and the ability to adapt quickly to changing situations are what have inspired us to create our new lounge seating collection. SOFT ROCK offers a fresh look to traditional office spaces,” says Simonas.

When designing SOFT ROCK, Christina Strand and Niels Hvass drew inspiration from nature: they observed the sea’s waves washing over rock and stones on the shore, and rendering those rocks and stones’ shapes softer and smoother. Therefore, the synergy between rounded shapes and straight lines creates a unique, eye-catching yet simple design. The distinctive yet laconic silhouette is what makes SOFT ROCK stand out from other soft seating furniture.

The novel lounge seaters blend subtly into all kinds of lounge or work spaces for both public and private use and help to create a welcoming, safe and calm atmosphere for relaxation, informal meetings, collaborative or individual tasks.

Paulduan Creations Launches Modern Commercial Outdoor Patio Warehouse Program in California

A new modern outdoor furniture in stock program, dedicated to the commercial and hospitality industries has just been launched in Ontario, Southern California.

The program, established and mainly designed by patio furniture designer Paul (Chengyu) Duan, has 10 chair collections and 2 table collections as first year rollout, to ship from their CA warehouse.

“It’s about, and only about the combination of crafted minimalism design, commercial quality, mid-price, and inventory in US,” said Duan.

“There has just been this gap of price, design style and quality that needed to filled in the past 6-8 years, especially with the overall increased need of simplicity, personality and demand for quality,” said Duan, “We’ve been thinking and planning about this for over 6-7 years and finally put our hands around it and connected the dots of what I and my team know the best in the last 20 years of experience in patio furniture industry.”

“It’s minimalism but more on the crafted and mature side.” Duan added when describing the overall design genre.

“We focus on quality steel and aluminum metal work both in sheer design and craftsmanship,” said Duan, “we avoided fully woven products for quality and cost competition concerns, and honestly couldn’t afford adding cushions to the line at least this year due to the terrible delay in fabric supplies.”

When talking about goals for the company, “to grow in size and go after the mass is simply not what we are, ” Duan said. “that way we will pretty much be chasing historical data, and not being able to inspire, lead and last, which is our brand mission.” “We are ok being a little bit different and not too big.”

Being a patio furniture designer, Duan has worked in patio furniture industry for 20 years mainly on the manufacturing and designing/engineering side. In his earlier years he had worked with Winston, Woodard, Mallin, Kettler Germany in engineering. Duan is one of the few factory-grown designers who has his hands around all aspects of the design and manufacturing process to help him achieve his design and business goals.

Decades in patio furniture profession has allowed Paul Duan to learn from all aspects from designing the section profile of a synthetic wicker yarn or an aluminum extrusion, or creating the right sitting pitch, to a glamour setup by a beach house. Later years in his career he has been involved in customer service, Ecommerce, sales and marketing.

For example, there is only one size of stainless-steel bolt across the entire program, just for the ease of production and customer service. “Maybe it’s not a proud thing to say but I do need to approve even the CAD drawing of a nylon foot glide. And won’t feel comfortable without doing so.” said Duan.

Paulduan Creations now has representative teams mainly covering the west coast and sunbelt states with some dealers east of Mississippi.

Paul is also a landscape photographer. Most of the photography used in Paulduan Creations website and social media were from his work, mainly in LA beach cities and eastern Sierra mountains or lake Tahoe area.

“If there is a difference from my product photography, that’d be it’s always not about the furniture being in the middle of the shot, but the beauty of nature and how we be humble, admire and continued to be inspired to live simple and live alive."

Studio Cáceres Lazo designs headquarters for Chilean startup Fintual

Design firm Studio Cáceres Lazo has overhauled part of a 1930s mansion to create a flexible office space in Santiago for financial startup Fintual.

A stepped seating area on wheels can be moved around the office, which has a variety of desks and seating types for employees to choose from.

Founded in 2016, Fintual offers wealth management services for the general public. It is part of a growing community of tech entrepreneur-led companies in Chile. As of last year, the company managed funds for 47,000 clients, prompting the need for more staff and a larger office.

It turned to local firm Studio Cáceres Laz to design its new headquarters, located in Santiago's Providencia district.

The Best Items People Bought to Work From Home During COVID

It’s hard to believe, but many of us who were sent home last March expecting to return to our offices after a few weeks have now worked from home for more than a year. In that time, we’ve bought chairs, lamps, desks, and so many other things to try to make the living room or kitchen table or home office a more efficient, pleasant place to work. With COVID-19 restrictions being relaxed across the country, some folks may be returning to the office soon, while others are gearing up to WFH for even longer. Whichever group you are a part of, if this year has taught us anything, it’s that the right equipment can improve any office space.

That’s why we asked a bunch of people a simple question: What’s the best thing you bought over the last year to make WFH more bearable? Below, some 27 working professionals share the furniture, lighting, electronics, comfort items, and even kitchen items that improved their work days during the pandemic. For even more supplies for home (or traditional) offices, be sure to check out our list of the products that folks who’ve worked from home for years use every day.

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