IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 20

Meanwhile, what few people take into
consideration—and nobody tracks—is the loss
factor, or the cost per usable square foot. To get
more nuanced, there’s also the adjusted-loss factor,
which addresses carpet-able and usable square
footage. And most important is the efficiency
factor, which I’ve never heard anyone talk about,
other than myself.
Can you explain?
Infrastructure is where all the money is; it can
account for half your overall construction costs.
One of the first things I advocate clients to do
is to hire an engineer for their project team. If you
renew your current lease—which you’ll likely
do if you can—you’re going to do so with no
leverage if your space is not engineered properly.
If you don’t point out those deficiencies to
your landlord during lease negotiation, you’ll
be stuck fixing them.
Have the engineer do an infrastructure study
on your current space to assess the Internet
bandwidth, the electrical wiring, how well the AC
is working. Do you need after-hours AC? How’s the
building air quality? Bad air effects productivity.
Employers wonder why they have such lazy
employees; it’s because they’re breathing bad air!
People focus on price per square foot at the
expense of all-in costs, but also at the expense
of the bigger picture—issues like how aspects
of the space or the design impact employee
productivity and morale. Those are harder metrics
to assess, but ultimately more important
in the long run, no?
Creature comfort, inspiration, esprit de corps—
those are the most important attributes of a space.
Happy people are better workers; environment is
a big contributor to that. Having a nice lunchroom,
outdoor space, a gym, or a nap room are all huge
positives. Plus, those facilities also serve as
expansion space. You can convert them to offices
down the line if needed and, in the meantime,
the square footage doesn’t sit idle.
Designers and architects are increasingly
pressured to create spaces that are flexible,
that anticipate future growth and needs. What
are some other things you suggest clients
do in that capacity?
This conference room we’re sitting in? It can
become two offices. We designed it so that there’s
no central light fixture or venting where the
dividing wall would go, and there are light
switches on either side of the room. So if we grow
and need to convert this into two offices, the
building handyman can divide it over the weekend
for $300. To design this in anticipation of growth

20

costs $2,000 more up front. That beats having
to hire four trades—electrical, HVAC, Sheetrock,
paint—and costing $23,000 down the line.
The price per square foot for office space is not
going down in Manhattan; it’s an island. So you
need to maximize design efficiency and flexibility.
Firms sign a 10-year lease and only consider the
beginning. I tell clients to have their designer
do two floor plans: one for now, and one for later
that maximizes density.
A maximum-occupancy density study is something
designers can do for past clients if they haven’t
already. A majority of your business comes from
existing and previous clients, so why not be
proactive and do things for them that make them
want to reach out to you? Say, “If you’re ever going
to need more space, you’ll need to do this; let me
execute it for you now, see how many more bodies
I think I can comfortably fit in there, and come up
with a game plan for you.” You’ll ingratiate yourself.
What are some other features you encourage
clients to anticipate in regard to future growth?
Furniture solutions are the wave of the future.
Furnishings are flexible and changeable.
You depreciate them over a much shorter period
of time than your office install, you can take them
with you when you leave, and they create a cool
vibe—way more easily than can be achieved
via your installation.
Is that old real-estate mantra “location, location,
location” a thing of the past?
I think the most important thing—more
important than the view—is access to daylight.
And to whatever extent possible you can have an
egalitarian structure, where all cubicles and offices
are the same size, and you have as few offices as
possible. Most bosses are not liked by employees…
…because they insist on having a large
corner office?
And a private executive washroom. It’s the first
thing I tell people to do away with.
Do clients typically follow that advice?
The owner of a family business wants to be in
the big corner office and doesn’t care if he’s liked.
I get a lot of, “Last time I checked, I wasn’t looking
to be a popular boss.” I’ll say, “I love your candor,
but I bet one of your greatest expenses is employee
turnover, and you don’t know why employees
are leaving. Companies with a more egalitarian
structure have less turnover.” If one employee
leaves in a small 40-person company, that
effects everyone. If you keep people happy,
you retain staffers and your business is better.
They sometimes listen to that.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013

IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013
IIDA Post-It initiative
Contents
Contributors
From IIDA
Behind the Issue
IIDA News
Design Dialogue
The Showroom of the Future
Working It
Hire Resolution
Get Your Game On
Design Decoded
Behind the Design
Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover2
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA Post-It initiative
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 2
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 5
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Contributors
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 9
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Behind the Issue
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - IIDA News
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 14
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 15
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 16
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Design Dialogue
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 20
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - The Showroom of the Future
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 26
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Working It
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 34
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 38
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Hire Resolution
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 44
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Get Your Game On
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 50
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Design Decoded
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 53
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - 54
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Behind the Design
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Viewpoints
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Spring/Summer 2013 - Cover4
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