Friday, June 24, 2022

American Office sells to MOI after 90 years in business

DIRTT Hires Benjamin Urban as Chief Executive Officer

Material Bank Acquires Architizer

News

Material Bank’s acquisition of the platform links Architizer’s design resources with Material Bank’s specification tools, empowering the industry to work more effectively and efficiently by simplifying design decisions. 

Interest rates are rising, inflation is at generational highs and a recession may well be on the way, but the cranes on the skyline aren’t going away anytime soon.

Construction starts are up and projects in planning rose in May, and experts told Bisnow that isn’t likely to change — at least for well-planned projects in sectors of high demand — even if obtaining financing gets harder and the cost of capital continues rising.

The powerful user experience turns cluttered homes into blank canvases for magazine-ready makeovers.
Is the Great Resignation about to hit the brakes? Real estate tycoon Stephen Ross thinks so. “The employees will recognize as we go into a recession, or as things get a little tighter, that you have to do what it takes to keep your job and to earn a living,” Ross said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The Workplace

According to a recent Korn Ferry report, employers are worried that employees will return to the office carrying over bad habits they have picked up during the pandemic while working remotely.
Worldwide, 44% of workers reported feeling stressed in their jobs on a daily basis, and 1 in 5 said they were miserable. Here are some ways to help combat fatigue.
Hybrid or remote work is settling in as a permanent reality for millions. Their setups and technical skills can still feel like a temporary solution.
Workers place personal items such as photographs on their desks in order to resist a change to a shared workstations or hot desking, according to new research from emlyon business school. The research found that employees believed is the most effective approach to show their dissatisfaction and halt the change to a new way of working involving shared desks is by passively utilising their personal items to claim space. These are the findings of research by David Courpasson, Professor of Sociology at emlyon business school, alongside colleagues from Universite Catholique de Louvain and published in Human Relations Journal.
California employers have recently experienced a material uptick in lawsuits from employees seeking reimbursement for expenses incurred while working from home. These lawsuits seek a wide variety of expense reimbursement for increased utility costs and for the costs of losing out on the ability to rent out their home offices. Employees typically bring these claims under Labor Code section 2802. Sometimes employees also bring derivative PAGA actions for wage-statement “inaccuracies.”

Hybrid Working

In the annals of the return-to-office debate, many companies are taking the middle ground. Apple wants employees back in the offices three days a week, once COVID-19 rates stabilize. Citigroup, Google, and American Express are on the same track. A “three days in, two days out” or “two days in, three days out” hybrid model is emerging as a popular workplace plan, as a compromise between managers who want closer tabs on their people, and employees who feel happier and more productive working from home. But like most compromises, the 3-2 model leaves almost everyone feeling dissatisfied, prompting us to call it the “worst return-to-office strategy.”
The average reported salary for hybrid-based cloud professionals is now $188,000, according to a new report.

Trends

There’s a mood in workspace interiors that the industrial aesthetic of previous years is out, and nature-inspired comfort is here to stay. At least that’s what we’re hearing from those in the know, talking to interior design studios and suppliers of design materials.

Companies are coming to terms with a new reality of how work gets done. But one big question remains: What should the future office look like post pandemic?

The Post asked five companies to reimagine what the traditional office would look like as the pandemic over the past two and half years altered dramatically the way employees work — from meetings in conference rooms to video calls and flexible schedules. Companies such as Google and IBM have been rethinking the workplace, creating offices flooded with green space and fresh air and company-owned coffee shops. But it’s unclear what the exact function of the future office will be and how that will affect its design.

Design

Everyone seems to have an opinion about the future of the office. But few opinions matter more than those who will inherit them. As much as senior leaders want us to listen to their years of expertise, we are entering a new world order when it comes to the office and the youngest generations will be the ones that build it.
Inclusive design also means understanding and providing for cognitive differences. It’s not that hard to rethink office norms that will benefit everyone.

Real Estate

Suburban office markets are recovering faster than downtown markets across the U.S., according to new CBRE data. Downtown office buildings in most markets remain impacted by a slow return of residents and in-person workers who jumped ship at the start of the pandemic. Data shows the average suburban office asking rent increased 0.7 percent quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter of 2022, while the downtown average rose just 0.3 percent.

Dealers

American Office, a 90-year-old Baltimore office furniture retailer known for its Herman Miller furniture, has sold to rival MOI for an undisclosed price.

The deal was driven by the recent merger of Herman Miller and Knoll, now MillerKnoll, a collective of 19 design-centric furniture brands, officials from both companies said in a news release last month. American Office will become part of MOI under the MOI brand led by David Noel, MOI’s current president.

The third-generation American Office had partnered with Herman Miller for more than 50 years, making it the largest retailer of the highly designed chairs in the mid-Atlantic. MOI, which was founded in 1983, partnered with Knoll for more than 25 years, the company said.

All three firms have established a strong presence in Colorado and beyond, working with industries ranging from office and higher education to healthcare and government, including Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, as well as small businesses. In total, these firms have supported the creation of more than 38 million square feet of commercial interior space for the top employers in the region in the last three years alone.

Makers

Steelcase Inc. reported first quarter revenue of $740.7 million, a net loss of $11.4 million, or $0.10 per share, and an adjusted loss per share of $0.05. In the prior year, Steelcase reported revenue of $556.6 million and a net loss of $28.1 million, or $0.24 per share, and had an adjusted loss per share of $0.22.
Mr. Urban, 46, joins DIRTT from Agile Interiors, where he previously served as a business development executive for fifteen years. Agile is one of DIRTT’s largest Partners.
Arnold Contract continues to be run by Arnold family members like Glenn Arnold, son of co-founder Julius Arnold. The 65,000 sq ft facility in Irvington, NJ- where all projects are designed, built, and assembled- sits just a few miles from the Arnold original shop. Arnold remains an environmentally-friendly choice for clients in the Northeast, shipping 60% of their business to New York City, just 15 miles away.

Products

Zeph marks the introduction of a chair tailored to our new ways of working.
Launching his first foray into office design, Marc Newson sets out to deliver a modern update to the everyday task chair for Knoll.
Mara presents Icon, new for 2022, the seating collection with a transversal and versatile character. The seating archetype finds a new, evolved expression in Icon, the exclusive collection of chairs by Mara. The company, with the creative contribution of Marcello Ziliani, gives life to a strongly identifiable proposal, original in its simplicity, highly innovative in its design and versatile in its intended use.
Reseat – the company dedicated to giving furniture a second life – has launched a new tech upgrade, which took home 3 Best of NeoCon awards and the NeoCon Business Innovation Award at this year’s NeoCon.
Vilhelm Lauritzen’s lightweight and stackable vla26 vega chair from 1956 has now become part of the Carl Hansen & Son collection of design classics. The chair, which has previously only been found in the vega concert halls, will now be available to a wider audience for the first time.

Projects

The social media company downsized its Vancouver offices and designed 27,000 square feet of office space with inclusivity in mind.

Last Word

A desk by Cagatay Afsar with an integrated transparent screen has been named the winner of LG Display and Dezeen’s contest that sought creative OLED designs to enrich people’s changing lifestyles.

More offices today are 'going to the dogs' as they welcome furry friends into work-from-home spaces as well as a growing number of corporate offices. With nearly 1 in 3 people getting a new pet during the pandemic, many are prioritizing a pet-friendly environment in their career decisions.1

That's good news as pets can help reduce stress and even increase productivity, but there are also health and safety challenges to consider. In celebration of National Take Your Dog to Work Day on Friday, June 24, National Business Furniture offers tips to make office spaces safer and more comfortable for our furry friends.

Find the best Contract Furniture Industry jobs and hire the best talent.
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