The Leader - March/April 2009 - (Page 32) HEADQUARTERS THAT SERVE AND SELL: CREATING COMPANY IDENTITY AND INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH SITE DESIGN Real Estate That Serves and Sells For many companies, the work space is a part of the corporate culture and expresses its personality and competitive differentiation. The landscape and site planning can and should be an equal expression of company differentiation, from support of core business functions to employee-centric well-being and environmental corporate social responsibility. Land planning is a corporate resource. Companies are finding a competitive advantage in using this asset to serve and sell just like their other resources. About the Authors John Hankey is Vice President of Real Estate at NVIDIA, named Forbes’ 2007 Company of the Year. The Santa Clara, Calif., firm is one of the world’s leading fab-less semiconductor companies and recently was given city approval to develop a new headquarters across from its current facility. Rene Bihan is a Principal of SWA Group, a global landscape and urban planning firm with offices in California, Texas and China. The firm is collaborating with Korth Sunseri Hagey Architects on the NVIDIA project. Electronic Arts Headquarters of Northern California, and facilitating these collaborative discussions in outdoor settings is an attribute of many high-tech campuses – although creative site design can facilitate such spaces in any climate. The Irvine Company, which develops property for lease, combines the notion of highquality design to attract corporations, while also being flexible. Irvine has incorporated landscape and site planning as a key element in the experience of entering and using offices, and projecting the corporate tenant’s image. The Valley’s biggest and smallest firms have found outdoor spaces an important complement to their buildings, providing numerous “people spaces” – places for informal meetings, employee lunches and breaks, and for public visitors who interact with the firm. Start-up firms find it an important attribute. At Irvine’s McCarthy Ranch in the Silicon Valley town of Milpitas, the offices are predominantly flex-tech buildings which can be easily reformatted to accommodate the march of firms who grow, shrink and change needs. Thus the landscape and external experience is what really differentiates the facility, and these “people spaces” are a direct extension of the interior workplace. Distinctive landscapes are more than window-dressing, enabling the same collaborative impromptu meetings among employees, annual picnics and informal gatherings as large-scale campuses. Collaborative spaces are also at work in the new NVIDIA headquarters plans. The CEO’s office space is as simple, egalitarian and accessible as the rest of the employees’. NVIDIA believes work spaces are not about social hierarchy but should revolve around the work, making people accessible to each other. The collaborative-space design of the interiors also flows into the planning of exterior spaces, with outdoor walkways, planted nooks, tables and other subtle constructs which make it easy for people to pull aside, meet and share ideas. For more information on this topic, go to CoreNet Global’s Knowledge Center Online. Eco Data Centers: A Cool New Reality www2.corenetglobal.org/dotCMS/ kcoAsset?assetInode=4250449 Change by Design: Supporting Culture and Improving Efficiency in the Workplace www2.corenetglobal.org/dotCMS/ kcoAsset?assetInode=4304756 2 0 0 9 THE LE ADE R 32 MARCH / APRIL http://www2.corenetglobal.org/dotCMS/kcoAsset?assetInode=4250449 http://www2.corenetglobal.org/dotCMS/kcoAsset?assetInode=4250449 http://www2.corenetglobal.org/dotCMS/kcoAsset?assetInode=4304756 http://www2.corenetglobal.org/dotCMS/kcoAsset?assetInode=4304756
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