I + D - March/April 2021 - 33

Crossing Over - By Diana Mosher

Herrera and her team have been
incorporating key elements
from commercial workplace
design into the home office.
" Sit-to-stand desks are critical
for folks who are at their desk
all day. There are several on
the market that have hidden
leg mechanisms, making them
beautiful in the up or down
position, " she says. " People
are experiencing fatigue from
sitting through Zoom meetings
for multiple hours. The ability
to stand keeps them engaged
physically and mentally. "
To ensure privacy for meetings
and deep work, HBx Studio is
fitting home offices into closets
and converting spare bedrooms
into offices with pull-out sofas.
" Each member of the family
needs their own zone to be
effective throughout the day, "
explains Herrera.

The firm also is leveraging the
durability of commercial-grade
materials in their residential
projects. They are specifying
tile with handmade textures
and unique patterns that
meet commercial-grade slip
resistance standards. In a recent
residential renovation, they used
commercial fabric on an 11-foot
kitchen banquette.
Conversely, HBx borrowed a
residential design mirror trick for
the elevator lobby at the Yeon
Building, a historic 1911 office
building in downtown Portland,
Oregon. The original elevator
doors are part of the National
Register of Historic Places. " The
pattern is a gorgeous Art Deco
brass inlay that we could not
recreate, and it is surrounded
by pink Italian marble that we
could not source more of, "
says Herrera. To unify the lobby
and expand the narrow width,
the designers added mirrors to
" bounce " the elevator pattern and
the pink marble to the other wall.
HBx Studio
borrows residential
design concepts
to create inviting
commercial spaces.
(Image: Courtesy
of HBx Studio)

Humanscale added a WFH Essentials
shop to its website to answer the
call for at-home workstations as
supportive as those workers were
accustomed to at their offices.
(Image: Jeremy Frechette/
Courtesy of Humanscale)

David
Wong

Leena
Jain

Bringing Resimercial Home
" The wall between the office and home has been coming down
for years, " according to David Wong, vice president of product
development, design, and engineering at Humanscale. This movement
started even before the pandemic, with commercial designers pulling
in design elements from the home to create a warm feel for the office
and encourage an open, friendly, and collaborative atmosphere.
" In the post-pandemic era, we will see it flowing in the other direction,
particularly with product expectations, " notes Wong. " Pre-pandemic,
you may have been using your home office an hour a day, whereas
now and going forward, you may be spending upwards of eight hours
a day in that space. So, the expectation of the products purchased for
the home office is that they should offer the same function, comfort,
and quality as those in the office. "
Humanscale has responded to the pandemic by adding a WFH
Essentials shop to its website. " The response has been strong, " says
Leena Jain, chief marketing officer at Humanscale. " It's clear that our
offerings resonate especially well with remote professionals, many of
whom realize that makeshift work-from-home solutions simply don't
cut it in terms of long-term comfort and productivity. "
In fact, Humanscale's e-commerce sales were up 200 percent in 2020;
sales for seating were three times higher; sit/stand products were
overall three times higher with Float tables five times higher; and foot
rocker sales were as much as eight to 10 times higher than the prior
year, according to Jain.
Some specific work-from-home challenges Humanscale has identified
are the space constraints often associated with urban professionals.
Upcoming introductions will be more tailored in scale and, therefore,
ideal for smaller workspaces.

Brittney
Herrera

" Whether in the office or at home, professionals have very similar
needs, " says Wong. " Namely, to feel comfortable and supported with
a functional workstation. "

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