Entries by Mark

Back to the Future

Three things are true: Some things are more obvious than others. Some things are more obvious to some people than they are to others. The cyclical nature of everything doesn’t care what’s obvious or to whom. Case in point: We’ve written about open office spaces before. Their drawbacks were obvious, at least to us. But as […]

Is This Seat Taken?

The other day, a request came in from the Tall Order Department: “We need the perfect office chair.” At first, I didn’t know whether to quote Quick Draw McGraw or Tonto. Then I thought it might be worth taking a crack at trying to find the perfect chair. After all, the customer is alway right, […]

For What It’s Worth

Let’s face it, business is business. And we’re all looking to get our fair share. But when it comes to real estate, we may not be getting it. I’m not sure if this is due to people’s lack of imagination or if it’s because some people just aren’t visual thinkers. But it seems pretty common […]

What Cost Do-Overs?

There are many ways to calculate cost. But if you want to have some fun with the monetary costs alone of demolishing buildings — residential, commercial or industrial — play with this calculator for a while. If nothing else, it’ll help you understand the tens of thousands of dollars or more required to be spent […]

Same Apples, Same Cheese

If you can’t imagine that perspectives, tastes, and styles can make significant differences in staging a space — in evoking a particular mood, in reflecting a personality, in conveying a vision or a perspective — I conducted a visual experiment to share with you: I took the same four apples and the same two pieces […]

The Art of Ergonomic Science

If you’re not absolutely certain that outfitting space requires at least as much art as science, consider this: A recent research paper, published by Emerald Insight — “Stand Up to Work: assessing the health impact of adjustable workstations” — studied employees randomly selected from three floors in an office building. People on one floor got adjustable workstations (AWS). […]

Perspective is Everything

There’s no such thing as bad information. I try to take in as much as I can. I try to consider all I take in. I don’t agree with all I take in. And I try to be accepting of and informed by all I take in. But I do have lines, and sometimes I […]

All the World’s a Stage

A friend sent me a post from a rather esoteric website for horoscopes and such. The post was a little out there. But it contained a statement that was powerful and compelling in its truth and simplicity. Here it is: [Act] as if your own choices serve to make the world a better place specifically by […]

Dawn of the Dead Design

We’ve already written about the fact that the open office concept is dead. This article from Inc. — “It’s Official: Open Plan Offices Are Now the Dumbest Management Fad of All Time” — is just another stake through its heart. But some things die harder than others. That’s why we have Dracula and zombies. It’s […]

Art Influences Language

In an earlier post, we offered the notion that art can create opportunities for everyone in any given environment to perceive things differently (perhaps even creatively). We found a suggestion in a recent perusal of Bisnow that having some art around may yield more benefits than we might have imagined. A post called, “Why Companies Should Invest In […]