The Working Space
TWS - Orgatec 2022 Photo/Video Album

A quick walk thru of Orgatec 2022.

TWS - Orgatec 2022 Photo/Video Album
Manufacturer, NeoCon 2021
Source: CFN News Desk
Hightower wins multiple NeoCon awards including ...

Contract furnishings provider, Hightower received multiple awards at NeoCon 2021, including IIDA's 'Best Small Showroom' (under 4,000 sf) and 'Best of Competition' for its newly designed Chicago showroom.

Hightower wins multiple NeoCon awards including ‘Best Showroom’
Manufacturer, People
Source: CFN News Desk
Humanscale Announces Elizabeth Margles as Chief ...

Humanscale welcomes Elizabeth Margles to its Marketing Division in the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Margles comes to Humanscale with twenty years of experience in design, fashion and retail and a background in public relations and advertising.

Humanscale Announces Elizabeth Margles as Chief Marketing Officer
Manufacturer
Source: CFN News Desk
Steelcase teams up with Kontrol Technologies to ...

The exclusive relationship with Kontrol's BioCloud® Technology will provide real-time detection of airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 to help make workplaces safer as organizations return to the office.

Steelcase teams up with Kontrol Technologies to provide air quality monitoring and viral detection technology
Manufacturer, People
Source: CFN News Desk
Alan Jay Heller dies at 81

For over 50 years, Heller offered leading designers the opportunity to work with new technologies to create innovative products. Those were great partnerships and they resulted in great products.

Alan Jay Heller dies at 81

Green

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Humanscale Shows Commitment to Sustainability with the Living Product Challenge

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Humanscale Shows Commitment to Sustainability with the Living Product Challenge

Humanscale, a company long-dedicated to incorporating sustainable practices in their manufacturing processes, will be committing to the International Living Future Institute’s Living Product Challenge with their Float sit/stand desk and Diffrient Smart task chair in 2016. The only contract furniture brand to participate in the challenge, this represents a significant undertaking on behalf of the manufacturer and signals a message to the industry that a net positive impact is not only an important and achievable aim for the brand, but something the industry as a whole should be working towards. 

LEED certified green buildings in Canada reach a significant milestone

LEED certified green buildings in Canada reach a significant milestone

LEED certified buildings in Canada have led to a cumulative reduction of over one million tonnes of CO2e in greenhouse gas emissions – the equivalent of taking 238,377 cars off the road for a year. Along with this milestone the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) announced that in the first quarter of 2016 it certified the 1000th LEED Gold project in Canada. LEED Gold, the second most rigorous level of certification, now makes up 38 per cent of all LEED certified projects in Canada – the highest percentage of all levels. This is evidence of the industry’s enhanced capability to achieve higher levels of building performance. Among the most notable projects that earned LEED certification in the first quarter of this year was the certified LEED Platinum TELUS Garden Office Tower in Vancouver, BC, a one million square foot development in the heart of downtown Vancouver that features one of Vancouver’s largest solar panel collections on the office’s rooftop.

Read the article on workplaceinsight.net > 

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The Making of New York’s Greenest School

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The Making of New York’s Greenest School

As soon as she saw the overgrown plot of land, nestled among the neat lawns and peaked roofs of two-story homes on the South Shore of Staten Island, Bruce Barrett had a vision of the future. The vice president for architecture and engineering at New York City’s School Construction Authority (SCA) recognized an opportunity to test an innovative concept that could change the way that public schools are made. “When I saw the assignment,” Barrett says, “I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be our chance to build a net-zero school.’”

Read the article on medium.com > 

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3rd Annual Awards for Excellence in Sustainability

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3rd Annual Awards for Excellence in Sustainability

The American Planning Association’s Sustainable Communities Division (SCD) announced the third annual Awards for Excellence in Sustainability at the National Planning Conference in Phoenix, AZ. The awards honor project, plans, policies, individuals, and organizations whose work is dedicated to supporting and growing sustainable communities. The SCD supports planners who are committed to planning for sustainable communities by integrating all aspects of sustainability into their work through the combined economic, social, and ecological factors that shape communities.

World green building trends 2016: Focus on China

World green building trends 2016: Focus on China

Although China is still emerging as a green building market, the respondents to the World Green Building Trends survey expect rapid growth in the industry. Only 5 percent report that the current majority of their projects are green; however, 28 percent also report that they expect to be doing over 60 percent of their projects as green building within three years. The market in China is also differentiated by the extent to which protecting natural resources, improving indoor air quality and enhancing health and well-being through green building are seen as priorities.

Read more on usgbc.org > 

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California inspires through green building leadership: Rick Fedrizzi

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California inspires through green building leadership: Rick Fedrizzi

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I had the privilege of connecting with a range of leaders in green building who are making a measurable difference. They shared a recognition that they were very fortunate to live in California, where the statewide GDP makes it the eighth largest economy in the world. It is an economy supported by a strong consensus that environmental progress is fully consistent with strong economic performance and growth. 

Read the article on usgbc.org >

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BIOPHILIA AND YOUR WORKPLACE

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BIOPHILIA AND YOUR WORKPLACE

With spring in full bloom, it’s hard to ignore the positive effects of more sunshine, more flowers, more greenery all around. It’s also hard to ignore the urge to get out if you’re stuck inside an office all day.

We reached out to Jennifer Busch, Teknion’s VP of A&D, to find out how Teknion incorporates biophilic theory in their products and why we should all work to include more elements that stoke our biophilia (literally: a love of life, or, according to Busch, “the notion that all people are connected to nature”) in our workspaces.

Read the article on workdesign.com >

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Green Buildings: Good for the Environment, Occupants and the Bottom Line

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Green Buildings: Good for the Environment, Occupants and the Bottom Line

Green buildings are good for the environment—that is well known. But what benefits do they offer the people who inhabit them? A recent report from the World Green Building Council tackles that matter head-on, looking at the impact of environmentally friendly construction on user productivity and well-being in the retail sector. But the question isn’t a new one. In fact, says Scot Horst, chief product officer at the U.S. Green Building Council, it has its roots in the very beginnings of the green building movement.

Read the article on blueprint.cbre.com >

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HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR WORKSPACE WITH PLANTS

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HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR WORKSPACE WITH PLANTS

See ya later, sad office plant! In celebration of spring, Breather, an on-demand workspace network (we’ve featured them here and here), has partnered with The Sill, NYC’s leading plant design company. Together, they’ve turned an existing Breather unit into “The Oasis” — “a space for Breather members to immerse themselves in a room overflowing with productivity-enhancing greenery,” said Dave Haber, Breather’s VP of growth and marketing.

Read the article on workdesign.com >

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Clif Bar’s headquarters promotes sustainability and wellness for its employees.

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Clif Bar’s headquarters promotes sustainability and wellness for its employees.

Step into Clif Bar and Company’s headquarters, look up, and the bikes and kayaks dangling from the ceiling are among the quirky clues that suggest the leading energy bar maker is not content to leave the outdoors outside. Daylight beams through floor-to-ceiling walls of windows and changing colors fall onto workers spread across the open floor plan. A quartet of open-air atrium gardens offers a genuine slice of nature inside the building’s 115,000-sq-ft footprint. Step into one of the conference rooms built from reclaimed wood and the atmosphere feels a little like you have arrived at a trailhead.

Read the article on plus.usgbc.org > 

World green building trends in 2016: Motivators and obstacles

World green building trends in 2016: Motivators and obstacles

New data reveals that client demand is the top trigger for green building activity, having grown from 35 percent in 2012 to 40 percent in 2015. This shows that building owners recognize the benefits of green, and this recognition is a major driver of green market growth globally. In addition, environmental regulations also grew in importance from the previous data set, driven by a high response from a few regions, including India, Singapore and the U.K.

Read more on usgbc.org >

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GRESB Launches Health and Well-being Module for the Real Estate Industry

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GRESB Launches Health and Well-being Module for the Real Estate Industry

GRESB, the global standard for environmental, social and governance (ESG) assessment of real estate portfolios and infrastructure assets, today announced the launch of the GRESB Health and Well-being Module. This new module is an optional supplement to the GRESB Real Estate Assessment, which is an annual survey on behalf of a large group of institutional investors that captures information regarding the ESG performance of property companies, fund managers and developers.

Read the article on usgbc.org > 

The difference between ‘recyclable’ and ‘recycled’ is management not material

The difference between ‘recyclable’ and ‘recycled’ is management not material

The Times (paywall) has uncovered some pretty remarkable statistics about the way the British consume coffee. It appears that we now buy some 2.5 billion paper cups of coffee each year, primarily from the main High Street chains. That’s about 7 million cups a day. The good news for the environmentally conscious public would appear to be that all the chains ensure that each cup is fully recyclable and so prominently displays its green cred where the consumer can’t miss it. The problem is that just 1 in 400 of the cups are actually recycled with the rest going to landfill. The firms involved may include recycling bins in-store, but that accounts for just a fraction of the disposal of the cups. As The Times points out, the companies understand that consumers are more impressed by the claim that a product is 100 percent recyclable than 0.25 percent recycled. They are swayed by the material and ignorant of the management.

Read the article on workplaceinsight.net >

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A WORLD’S MOST ETHICAL COMPANY: 10 YEARS STRONG

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A WORLD’S MOST ETHICAL COMPANY: 10 YEARS STRONG

A century and a half ago, Milliken & Company was founded on the basis of family values, a dedication to ethical practices and a commitment to ‘doing good.’ This year, that core mission was once again recognized by the Ethisphere® Institute, which designated Milliken as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® for the 10th year in a row.

Read the blog on blog.millikencarpet.com >

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Why WELL rather than green is the new black in building design

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Why WELL rather than green is the new black in building design

Businesses that seek to occupy premium or grade A office accommodation are traditionally seduced by the next big thing. What was once a bespoke architectural design, then became an icon, a taller building, one made of glass and finally the inevitable iconic, tall, glass tower. Now it seems a good number of those businesses have moved on to green buildings as a must have upgrade to the skyscrapers of glass and steel. Green, it appears, is the new black. But is that really the next big thing or is being green merely the last big thing? Even worse, does going green in terms of building design actually deliver the types of benefits that an occupier or landlord was anticipating, beyond the significance of branding and an alignment with grade A quality office space? The green building narrative is a particularly powerful one and the growth of LEED and BREEAM rated buildings over the last decade is proof of that power.

Read the article on workplaceinsight.net >

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