1.23.12 | Much to our embarrassment, our review of healthcare products at NeoCon 2011 did not include KI, which has been a long-time prominent player in this area. We were therefore grateful to mitigate our deficiency through an opportunity to speak to Deborah Breunig, Vice President of Healthcare at KI. Ms. Breunig was happy to give us additional insight about KI’s perspective on the healthcare field, which appears to be leading the interior design profession into a new day in which designers will be required have a very good handle on the outcomes that can be expected from their efforts and their client’s investments.
A&D Firms >>, Companies >>, Interviews >>
1.23.12 | A survey of healthcare facilities professions was conducted throughout 2010-2011 by the Corporate Realty, Design & Management Institute in partnership with the Healthcare Institute of IFMA. The survey found that progress and efficiency are being impeded by apprehension about new technology performance, the proliferation of green washing by manufacturers and service providers, and buying decisions based on first cost. Facilities mangers who can see through the mist, however, are realizing significant efficiencies and savings.
Environment >>, Healthcare >>, Green to Gold >>
1.23.12 | 2011 began with high hopes and strong confidence that the economic recovery was well under way. Uncertainty began to grow, however, as the end of the year approached. Entering 2012, the high hopes and confidence were still there, but they were tempered by a caution of the recent past and fears of a reprise stemming from the European continent. In the long term we see opportunities. As manufacturing evolves, we see an incremental convergence of the factory with other workplaces. This invites the manufacturing sector and the interior design profession to collaborate, sharing knowledge and experience to their mutual benefit.
Business and Finance >>
1.23.12 | British psychologists have learned that all that time we spend sitting at work has repercussions beyond the size of the posterior we’re sitting on. Dr Myanna Duncan, Mr. Aadil Kazi and Professor Cheryl Haslam from the Work & Health Research Centre, Loughborough University, presented their workplace-based research January 13 at the British Psychological Society's Annual Occupational Conference.
A&D Firms >>, Research >>, RD Connections >>
1.16.12 | It was a good year, right? Perhaps not a great year, as we in this industry have known it, but, sequentially, quite a good year for the those creating interior environments. Employment, one of the key drivers in the interiors economy, has been spotty, yet pent up demand and the every-changing workplace has cut the purse strings, freeing some of the stored profits of major corporations, all to our benefit. Organizations are even more focused on productivity and related efficiencies, causing workplace redesign and furnishing as they pursue more effective use of their real estate, having lived through the second traumatic recession in a decade. At the same time, the scattered rays of economic sunlight have turned organizational minds toward staffing needs and the twin demands of retention and recruitment.
So, for many it was back to making hay, putting aside the difficult tasks of redesigning their business to correct the shortcomings that are so easily swept beneath the carpet during the good times.
Here is a glancing overview of the events that we covered last year.
A&D Firms >>, Companies >>, Events >>, People >>, Product >>, Project >>
1.16.12 | The contributions of the design professions are being made through the development and understanding of subjects of a much greater scope than that addressed by traditional fine arts programs. One of the leaders in our industry providing technical solutions is Steelcase, with its Integrated Technologies. One of the products in Steelcase’s Integrated Technologies vocabulary is media:scape, which was introduced at NeoCon WTF 2008. James Hackett, CEO of Steelcase, saw media:scape as another transformational product. Now, Steelcase is introducing media:scape mini and media:scape mobile to enhance the classroom collaboration experience at HigherEd TECH, a technology summit for higher education held as part of the international Consumer Electronics Show.
Companies >>, Product >>, Technology >>
1.16.12 | Researchers at the University of Exeter have completed research that supports including fitness centers in corporate campuses and similar complexes. Adrian Taylor and his colleagues determined that walking briskly for 15 minutes can reduce snacking on chocolate by 50%.
RD Connections >>
12.19.11 | I have never returned from an Orfield event without the feeling of having my eyes re-opened. I call it the Applied Brilliance for the Built Environment. The Lutron-sponsored two-day program, User Experience Across Multiple Building Types, was the latest for the Open Plan Working Group and the recently created Architectural Research Consortium. Interestingly, although Orfield’s focus is on user experience and its relationship to building performance, a fair amount of the discussion dealt with the experience of clients with architects and designers as they, the clients, try to markedly and systematically improve building performance and user (referring to the ultimate user) experience.
A&D Firms >>, Events >>, Project >>
12.19.11 | As the 2012 recipient of its highest honor, the Gold Medal, the American Institute of Architects has wisely named Steven Holl of New York. Like most winners of the AIA Gold Medal, Holl is in fact several years overdue, having received a variety of honors at home and abroad over the past decade. (Unlike last year's overdue Gold Medalist, Fumihiko Maki of Tokyo, Holl hasn't yet won the Pritzker Prize, and he's overdue for that too.)
A&D Firms >>, Competitions and Awards >>, People >>, Prof. Associations >>
12.19.11 | The Center for the Built Environment at the University of California Berkeley conferred its 2011 Livable Buildings Award on the Enermodal Engineering Headquarters building (Robertson Simmons Architects Inc.) in Kitchener, Ontario. The Kresge Foundation Headquarters and the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences won honorable mentions in this contest. The Livable Buildings Awards “showcase buildings that excel in design, operation, and occupant satisfaction.” The 2011 projects singled out for recognition were described as “projects [that] meet the highest standards for providing healthy and productive indoor environments, and also represent best practices for sustainability and overall design.”
A&D Firms >>, Environment >>, Events >>, RD Connections >>
