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The most successful U.S. companies may soon feature workers who favor running shoes over high heels, sunlit standing desks over cubicle labyrinths, and bicycle-only parking garages. Why would corporations adopt these types of progressive amenities? Simply put: It's good for business. The best evidence is a new government-supported workplace certification program designed to make workers happier, healthier, and more productive. Unveiled this fall by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the General Services Administration (GSA), it’s a scorecard that employers can voluntarily use to assess how their office space affects workers’ collective well-being.
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Dezeen
An immersive Christmas tree installation was unveiled in the lobby of Claridge's hotel in Mayfair in London. For the installation, the entrance to the hotel has been lined with four-meter-high light boxes that glow with black and white photographs of snow-covered silver birch trees. Real silver birch trees are placed in front of the backdrop in small mounds of artificial snow, while larger green pine trees stand in the foreground.
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The New York Times
In many ways, the New York Public Library’s renovation plan has been a step-by-step retreat from the ambitious and controversial $1 billion overhaul – with a design by the starchitect Norman Foster – that once called for moving the circulating library at the Mid-Manhattan branch into the main Fifth Avenue flagship. Now, in a quiet culmination of all the sturm und drang that accompanied its earlier iterations, the library’s board approved an understated $200 million redesign of Mid-Manhattan by the lesser-known Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo that aims to improve the inhospitable interior and is unlikely to ruffle any feathers.
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Health Facilities Management
The new $38 million Valley Health Center in downtown San Jose, California, provides care to an underserved community and pays homage to the heritage of its residents with its Spanish-influenced design. More than 60 percent of residents living near the health center are of Hispanic descent. While the health center serves the present and future needs of a developing city, the facility’s design also reflects the unique heritage and setting of downtown San Jose. The architecture features rhythmic placement of rainbow-colored glass fins and integrated horizontal sunshade screens with extensive use of multicolored glass panels throughout the building.
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The Architect's Newspaper
Thanks to a partnership between government, a local artist, and a global athletic brand, basketball players on Manhattan’s Lower East Side can now enjoy colorful courts and high-style hoops that highlight the energy of the sport. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) teamed up with Nike and KAWS, the Brooklyn-based artist and toy designer, to transform Sara D. Roosevelt Park’s two basketball courts into vibrant permanent installations. The four vividly-hued backboards and their matching asphalt playing surfaces were painted with bright character silhouettes against kaleidoscopic backdrops.
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The award-winning Acrovyn Wall Panel system provides designers the opportunity to reset their standards with extensive new design selections that install in half the time previously required. With new trim and edge options, panel depths and endless finishes, designers can create unique spaces that are protected and easily maintained.
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Sourceable
While the term "agile working environment" might seem like a foreign idea to many, a lot of the companies at the top of the "most desirable places to work" lists are adopting the values, standards, and attitudes that come along with the agile working trends. Is this new way of working merely a passing fad or is it paramount to creating more productive workplaces?
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Fast Company
Andrew Dent, vice president of library and materials research at Material ConneXion, is like a sommelier. Presiding over the world's largest library of materials, his job is to listen to the requirements of his clients – a list which includes Armani, Chrysler, Calvin Klein, Hermann Miller, Disney, Nike, Toyota, and many, many more – and come up with an innovative material that suits their needs. Dent shares a handful of the cutting-edge materials he thinks will be important to designers over the next few years.
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IIDA
Please join us in celebrating the life of design visionary and past IIDA International Board Member Anna Hernandez, founder and president and CEO of Luna Textiles. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Anna Hernandez/Luna Textiles Education Fund.
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IIDA
Understanding the power of workplace design can be the difference between attracting and retaining the best employees and losing out to your competitors. For the second in our Design Leveraged series, IIDA and BIFMA commissioned a study examining how design affects employee satisfaction and engagement. What we found makes clear: There is an undeniable business case for good design. IIDA Members receive a digital copy of the report for free. Hard copies are available for purchase.
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Curbed
Stockholm-based fashion brand Acne Studios recently set up shop on Upper East Side’s Madison Avenue, replete with gold accents, sculptural furniture, and colorful rugs from British designer Max Lamb. Lamb collaborated with Acne's creative director Jonny Johansson for this store’s interior design, which is all about gilded luxury (in stark contrast to their West Village store). Gold is the primary focus here: Gold colored shelves, rails, and partitions line the space. Along with the golden tone are metal interior walls, black asphalt floors, and pillars decorated with semi-precious stones.
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Curbed
A long-anticipated hotel adjacent to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is taxiing closer to reality. And that reality will be larger, overall, than previously thought. At a recent press conference, a new timeline and expanded plans were rolled out for what project leaders still hope will become an InterContinental Hotel and surrounding complex. Renderings reveal a design changed very little from those unveiled earlier this year.
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Bradley's new dual sided dryer incorporates the latest air flow technology and features 25% more hand drying space and a water collection reservoir to keep floors and walls spotless. Plus, the intelligent LED display indicates when to empty the water tray and change the HEPA filter for easy maintenance.
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Boutique Design
There’s a place for everything from metal mesh screens to lavender houndstooth upholstery in the new-build skyscraper that houses the Four Seasons New York Downtown’s 185 guest rooms and 157 residences. The hotel's designers started with their design narrative. "Our vision for this hotel began with a fictional couple: a banker, Donald Judd, with a deep-rooted interest in bold architecture, and fine tailoring, and his wife, a curator with a minimalist fashion aesthetic and a penchant for pared-back spaces and tactile surfaces," said the design firm co-founder Glenn Pushelberg.
The push-pull of those differing tastes provided the backbone for a hotel that departs from business as usual.
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Work Design
In 2015, EMD Serono decided its government and regulatory affairs office in Washington, D.C. needed an update. The result is an optimized, adaptable space that incorporates several layers of sustainable practices in terms of the materials used, but also the positive impact on those who occupy the space. For this government and global affairs office, acoustical privacy and the handling of classified information were of upmost importance, even between the separate divisions within the office.
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Adweek
Taco Bell has some serious goals for the next few years with plans to become a $15 billion brand by 2022 while adding 2,000 new restaurants. To kick-start the effort, it's unveiling a new logo and flashy flagship restaurant on the Las Vegas strip. The new logo, the brand's first refresh in 25 years, is a modern twist on the iconic Taco Bell bell. Taco Bell's also keeping pace in terms of fast-food restaurant design, as the next generation of consumers prefers well-appointed, comfortable spaces no matter the cost of the meal. The Vegas location is the fourth Taco Bell Cantina location. The Cantina concept features a modernized design with local artwork and open kitchens as well as tapas-style menu items and alcoholic beverages.
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Fast Company
Most traditional accident investigations tend to focus on discovering things around an event that never actually happened. In an attempt to prevent future accidents, there is an underlying assumption for this somewhat peculiar emphasis, which is: Someone did not do something they should have, according to someone else. Through this lens, what generally surfaces in investigations are "findings" about what people did not do (pay attention, make the right decision, etc.) rather than what they actually did. Unfortunately, this approach does not result in the safer and improved future we want.
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Fast Company
There’s definitely some truth in the wisdom that it’s better to overcommunicate than undercommunicate. Ideally, every manager gives their team members just enough direction to get on course and the leeway to do their thing free of micromanagement. The reality is often different, though. No good boss wants to leave their teams feeling empty-handed or unsupported, so they sometimes veer off too far in the opposite direction. Overcommunication is easier to fall into than you might think, and it winds up obfuscating my message and wasting everyone's time.
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