officeinsightTM

officeinsight
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Cited
In the midst of winter,
I learned there was in me an invincible summer.
Paul Camus
Jan Berman and MechoShade
Teknion’s Contessa Chair
Joel
Berman
founded
MechoShade
Systems,
Inc., more than 30
years ago with a
simple, but revolutionary idea officeinsight recently
sat down with Jan
Berman, the current President of MechoShade, to talk
about his family business,.
Not since Teknion introduced the
wasp-waisted Dharma chair has it had
such a charismatic, memorable entry
in the hotly competitive upper-end task
chair market.
Full Story, page 3
Full Story, page 8
Colour-ful Evening
Full Story, page 12
InformeDesign® (www.informedesign.umn.edu), the free online searchable database for design- and human
behavior-related academic research,
has been updated and given several
crucial enhancements that make it
more user-friendly than ever before.
Jill
Pilaroscia
of Colour Studio,
Inc., told a group of
New York designers
how they could “Experience the Power
of Color” at a presentation sponsored
by Interface on Oct.
28, 2004.
Full Story, page 14
Finish of the Week
Noteworthy
Re-Sited
Projects
Events
Job Site
This year’s annual IIDA Southern
California Chapter’s “Haunt Couture”
gala was aptly themed “Politics of Fashion.”
InformeDesign Introduces
Enhancements
Interface Hosts a
Departments
Material of the Week
LA Notes
Couture Fashion Labels
Full Story, page 15
Business/Tech
Raymond James Report
Financial Affairs
Industry Stock Prices
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Jan Berman: Here Comes the Shade
by Brad Powell
J
oel Berman founded MechoShade
Systems, Inc. (www.mechoshade.
com), more than 30 years ago with
a simple, but revolutionary idea, and
the company has been transforming interiors ever since. As daylighting
becomes an integral part of more and
more projects, MechoShade seems
poised for further growth and it has
been collaborating with McDonough
Braungart Design Chemistry to make
its products greener. The company’s
recent high-profile commissions include Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney
Concert Hall and a study for the new
headquarters for The New York Times.
officeinsight recently sat down with
Jan Berman, the current President of
MechoShade, to talk about his family
business, which has its main offices in
Long Island City, NY, and Phoenix, AZ
...................................................................
OI: Can you tell me a little bit of the
history of the solar shade industry
and MechoShade?
Jan Berman: Joel Berman, my father,
created this industry from scratch. He
studied architecture in the evenings at
Pratt, but he was drafted into the army
and never finished his degree. When
he returned from his stint in the army
in 1960, he went into my grandfather’s
drapery and upholstery business, focusing on commercial rather than residential work because he’d been exposed to commercial work through his
studies and from working in the commercial lighting industry. A number of
years later, he worked with an architect
in New York City, who was designing
executive offices for a head of a bank
in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, in the
late 60s, everybody used draperies in
executive spaces, but the bank president asked if he could have something in his window that would be similar to the porch shade he had growing up in Savannah. Joel, in response
to the architect’s request, researched
and sourced a vinyl coated fiberglass
insect screen, about 20% open, put
it on a roller tube, operated by a cord
on a sprocket, which had to be locked
in with a cleat. That was the first solar shade. Joel was intrigued by the
idea of this veiling or see through roller screen. The margins in commercial
MechoShade: EcoVeil
Jan Berman
drapery were not great, so he continued to work on and refine this as an alternative product for architects to use
in commercial interiors. In the process
he learned that solar shades had many
functional and design advantages. The
product wasn’t called a MechoShade
until around 1972, when Joel was
awarded patents on the MechoShade
design.
A watershed moment occurred on a
project MechoShade installed for a
bank in Richmond, VA, specified by
Bill Krebbs of Interspace Design,
of Philadelphia. The shade cloth and
glass combination met the shading coefficient criteria as set forth by the mechanical engineers, yet when the tenant moved in, those sitting near the
window wall were overheating from direct sun or solar gain. Joel did not understand how our shade cloth, meeting
the engineer’s specifications, would not
provide enough comfort, so he set out
to find the answer. His search eventually led to Professor John Yellott, who
was a professor of architecture and solar engineering at Arizona State University (ASU) and a major consultant
to the glass industry. Professor Yellott quickly pointed out that the problem with our project, was likely that the
fabric was too open and allowed too
much direct solar radiation. Yellott proposed that Joel fund– in 1972 money
– a $50,000 research project with ASU
Cont’d on page 4, Berman . . .
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. . . Berman, Cont’d from page 3
on one of the top floors of a new 50story building in downtown Phoenix,
which we agreed to do. The floor was
partitioned so that we had all these
ten-foot wide rooms, and ASU put in
instrumentation. John Yellott was able
to get the major glazing companies to
donate different types of glass used in
high rise construction, including PPG
and LOF which were then installed in
the different research rooms. For a
year ASU staff and students collected and analyzed data combining a variety of shade cloths, which we developed and supplied in combination with
the different types of glazing. In hind
site, Joel Berman bet the ranch to understand how one should design solar
fabrics and what impact differences in
openness, colors, types of fabrics, and
different types of glazing will have. For
the first 20 years, MechoShade was the
only company that promoted and supplied solar shades. Today we are still a
family business, with over 300 employees. I came into the business in 1982.
I started in sales in New England, and
then Chicago and Washington, DC,
and eventually I became the National
Sales Manager, then Executive Vice
President, and then a few years ago, I
became President of the company. My
brother Glen Berman, who is a Vice
President in Sales, has been involved
for over 15 years as well.
OI: Architects like to say the built
environment is the intersection between architecture and interiors.
Would you agree? How does MechoShade fit in?
JB: I used to open my presentations
with a quote from Le Corbusier about
how the history of architecture is linked
to the history of windows, so I agree.
For the last 30 years, we have tried to
show that what we put on the window
is not just a finish whose color is to be
selected three weeks before the owner
moves in. Owners and architects may
agonize for months and spend untold
money on mock-ups to pick the right
color glass, then potentially ruin their
decision by selecting the wrong window covering at the last minute. You
have to understand how the window
covering will impact building performance and individual comfort before
construction.
Our shades have an impact on both the
MechoShade: Installation with SolarTrac
base building architecture and the interior architecture, and sometimes they
have conflicting needs. A great example is Four Times Square. The interior
designers at Gensler wanted a lightcolored fabric on the inside to match
their interior schemes, but Fox and
Fowle was concerned that the building
would appear less than orderly from the
outside. It took a tremendous amount
of discussion to explain that effect depends on the color, not the fact that it’s
a roller shade. A light-colored Venetian
blind and a white shade will both stand
out behind clear glass. At Four Times
Square a light-colored fabric was ultimately selected, but you couldn’t really
tell from the outside because the glass
has enough of a coating to maintain a
good looking façade and not telegraph
the position of the shades. If the glazing was more transparent, a darker color might have been better.
OI: Why do interior designers want
light-colored shades?
JB: They’re thinking in terms of wall
color and they don’t want a dark, dreary space. But even though a dark-colored fabric absorbs light and darkens
the room, you can see through darker
colors much better. Many years ago, we
installed a project for AT&T with Kohn
Pedersen Fox Architects, an early
adopter of MechoShade. We supplied
mock-ups and responded to the architects’ aesthetic concerns of the exterior uniformity of the building with two
solutions. The first was a dark-colored
shade cloth that was matched to hide
in the shadow of the Solex green glass.
The second was that, even though
these were chain-operated manual shades, you could only put them in
three positions, full up, midway, and
full down. When the shades were deployed, they would line up in an orderly manner. The shades remain in the
building today, over 20 years later.
We devised another solution for
Gensler’s renovation of GM’s headquarters at the Renaissance Center in
Detroit. At first they selected a light-colored shade that, once the film was removed from the building as part of the
renovation, you could see from miles
away. We decided to change the color to one less noticeable from the outside, but Gensler and the client still really wanted a light color for the interior
finishes, so we used our 3000 series
Twill Weave, a two-toned weave, that
is woven so you could have a darker
color on the outside and a lighter color on the inside. Over 8,000 shades
have successfully been installed over
5 years and the client is pleased with
the performance both inside and out.
OI: Is it difficult to make a shade
with dark on one side and light on
the other?
JB: If you want it to be pure, yes. It’s
Cont’d on page 5, Berman . . .
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usually more of an 80/20 or 70/30 ratio on each side. It’s a question of how
great a contrast you can get without
coating or printing on the material or
performing some other secondary process.
OI: What are some other major projects MechoShade has done?
JB: In the early 1990s, we worked on
the Sears headquarters, which was almost 2,000,000 sq. ft. The designers
said, “Don’t invest too much time in this
project because Sears owns Dean Witter, which owns Levolor, and they’re
going to want their own company’s
products in the building.” Sears’ philosophy however was to put the employees interests above all other consideration. Sears built a mockup in their old
tower, and every employee reviewed
and voted for options such as the carpet, systems furniture, seating and the
like, including MechoShades and Venetian blinds, and the MechoShades
were selected as most desirable by the
employees. Further, Sears put a second mock-up of our shades as well as
Venetian blinds in a temporary building
at the jobsite, which housed a mockup
of the glass and curtain wall, and in-
stalled desks and CRTs to review the
impact of the window covering on their
work surfaces. Sears said the sun
shining through partially open Venetian
blinds created stripes on a computer
screen, which can promote eyestrain,
while the MechoShades created a uniform shadow. Clients can teach you
a lot; until then we’d never articulated
this point in our marketing materials
or presentations. Other major projects
would include First Interstate Tower in
Library Square in Los Angeles, the tallest building on the west coast, the Equitable Center Complex in New York
City, and the General Motors Renaissance Center in Detroit. There have
been many, many others.
Today’s most exciting and high profile
project would be our work in the mockup for The New York Times in Whitestone, Queens. They’ve built a mockup there of part of one floor of their
new headquarters by Renzo Piano.
We provided automated solar shading, for about 2/3’s of the mockup. The
Times brought in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to
monitor energy savings and glare. The
key is to understand the movement of
the sun around the facades, to under-
Apparently, when I was a kid I couldn’t sit still for more
than five seconds. That doesn’t surprise me, because I still
feel that way. My attention span is longer, but my body
is always on the move, getting comfortable and releasing
energy so I can focus. I equate movement with being alive.
. . . Berman, Cont’d from page 4
Introducing HÅG H09 by izzy
stand where they would get glare and
hotspots on workers with their furniture
layouts, and to specify what they want
for automated solar shading and dimmable lighting and their integration as
part of the building subsystem. I think
the combination of automated shades
and dimmable lighting will reduce their
lighting costs by 20 - 50%. I don’t expect every client to create a mockup as elaborate, but the Times says
they’re going to get back many times
the money they spent by working out
better details for the construction. We
have since been awarded the contract
for the Times’ new Headquarters, to
supply 28 floors of automated shades,
controlled by our AAC- SolarTrac software.
OI: How do architects feel about solar shading?
JB: I believe most architects would
love to have clear glass in their buildings with nothing impinging on their
beautiful form. Unfortunately, the sun
gets in the way. The mission of the solar shade is to have minimum visual impact, to be in the background, or disappear from view, while providing protection from sun and glare. Sometimes
Cont’d on page 6, Berman . . .
Love how you move.
Designer: Svein Asbjørnsen
izzydesign.com 866.499.9968
TM
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. . . Berman, Cont’d from page 5
architects do not consider shading until after they’ve designed their building
and they get less than perfect solutions because today’s technology can’t
handle their forms. The Hearst Tower
by Norman Foster, for example, has
these unusual trapezoids and triangles
and there are some significant challenges. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,
called us in early to look at the elevations for the Freedom Tower and we
hope to help them find a solution for
their interesting window layouts. They
will also have unusual requirements
because of the way individual pieces of
glass are shaped. This is exciting to me
because 20 years ago, we would never have been called in four years before the building is to be completed to
look at these details. I think solar shading is going to start having an impact
on buildings much earlier on, and is increasingly being looked at as a major
building subsystem, like HVAC, or the
Building Management System.
OI: How do interior designers feel
about it?
JB: Interiors people are often working on tenant fit-outs in existing buildings, in which case a lot of variables
are given. The first thing we ask is,
“Do you know what type of glass you
have in the building?” We start making
recommendations on color and density based on the visible light transmittance of the glass. Designers, especially those that are new to picking out
solar shades, often ask for our “most
open fabric” first. We have to tell them
it may not be a good idea, because
when the shade comes down, it has to
perform well. Many of our denser fabrics, i.e. 3% open, still provide a good
view to the outside.
OI: Are lighting consultants attuned
to the interplay between lighting
and shades?
JB: They’re much more so now. Solar
shading is considered an excellent tool
for good daylighting, whether it’s manually operated or motorized. We have
worked from time to time with some of
the leading lighting designers from the
very beginning, such as William Lam
and Howard Brandston, but we have
become much more involved with lighting designers in the last two or three
years. We joined the Lighting Research Council and I’m a member of
a group that’s trying to create a daylighting institute.
OI: Are there universally accepted
standards for daylighting?
JB: No, and we decided there have
to be. MechoShade is in the middle of
a research project with Arizona State
University right now and we’re measuring our fabrics in ways that will be
of keen interest to those who want to
practice daylighting. We expect to publish new findings on how to predict luminance values and performance factors like that by the end of this year.
We’re the only company who only does
solar shading – we don’t manufacture
MechoShade: First Hawaiian Bank Tower
Venetian blinds, we don’t make draperies, we don’t make pleated shades
– so we need to understand it better
than anybody. The whole industry still
uses the many of the same standards
and specifications that we pioneered
30 years ago with John Yellott.
OI: Do you have “intelligent” shades
that are integrated with light dimmers?
JB: Yes we have automated shades
with intelligent, addressable controls.
For the New York Times mockup we
made a conscious decision with Times
and Siemens, who provided the light
dimming system in our part of the
mock-up, not to wire the two systems
together. Siemens has a DALI (Digital
Addressable Lighting Interface) system, which senses light levels as a result of our shade position and they dim
the lights accordingly. Our AAC SolarTrac can program different zones in a
building and move shades automatically to incremental points on the window, such as 25%, 50%, and 75%
of the way down. It worked extremely well. The findings will be published
by LBNL. They also had the New York
State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) participate in this, so you have two impeccable scientific research organizations
documenting the data for the Times.
If they save up to 50% on their lighting costs as I think they might, it would
be several times more savings anyone has ever predicted for savings in
a daylighting environment like this. It’s
very exciting and I think it will be another watershed in the evolution of solar
shading. We’re seeing many more interested parties trying to integrate automated shading and daylighting, and
I think the publicity that The New York
Times’s project will get will be a very
large boost for that.
OI: Why should interior designers
be knowledgeable about daylighting?
JB: I think everyone ought to be sensitive to daylighting. I also think it’s incumbent upon the architect. In many
European countries, office workers
have to have access to natural light
by law. And if you look at studies from
the California Energy Commission
and other sources, there’s a tremendous amount of science indicating that
Cont’d on page 7, Berman . . .
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. . . Berman, Cont’d from page 6
there’s a very positive human reaction
to access to natural light and views.
There are numerous studies showing
how students perform better in
school and patients in hospitals
recover more quickly and office
workers are more productive
when their environment has a
good daylighting plan.
OI: Has most of your marketing been to the architecture
community?
JB: Yes, if we include interior
as well as base building architects. We market to the interior architect and the interior designer, as well as to the base
building architect, all the time.
The hardest thing in the world
for me is to hire a sales consultant who has a background
in working with both interiors
and base building architecture.
We’re blessed with the opportunity to work in venues ranging from Frank Gehry’s Disney
Concert Hall to healthcare facilities, high-rise office towers, corporate
interiors, universities, and museums.
OI: What additional considerations
are there for healthcare environments?
JB: The benefits of MechoShades
for healthcare are even more apropos than in the office. Our shades are
anti-microbial and anti-bacterial so that
they can be used in burn and other critical care units. They will not promote
the growth of mildew or fungus. Window coverings in hospitals get beaten
up pretty hard, but our products last
so well they have a 25-year warranty,
which saves owner/operators money.
Access to views and natural light help
create a healing environment for a patient. In 1984, Dr. Roger Ulrich published a famous hospital study called
“A View Through a Window may Reduce Recovery from Surgery.” It studied patients who all had the same or
similar procedures. Half of them were
on one side of a corridor looking at a
brick wall and the other half were on
the other side, looking out at a park
and trees and people. Over time, the
people who had the nicer view consistently needed fewer painkillers and had
fewer complications recovered more
quickly. MechoShades are all about al-
lowing access to light and views while
maintaining solar protection. If every
hospital could discharge a patient a
day sooner, can you image how much
money that would save? We believe
MechoShade: EcoVeil
that MechoShades can contribute towards that goal.
OI: There has been an increased
emphasis on operable windows and
providing access to fresh air. How
does that affect what you do?
JB: We did a project for Stuyvesant
High School in Battery Park, which
has operable windows. We installed
two sets of shades, solar and blackout,
overlooking the water. We worked out
a hold down clip, to prevent the wind
from blowing the shades around when
the windows are open. They’ve been
there for over ten years and they’re still
working fine. The materials are washable, so they can handle the elements.
I would welcome more operable windows and fresh air in buildings so we
don’t get stuck with air filters that never
get cleaned out properly.
OI: When did MechoShade first address sustainability?
JB: MechoShade was involved in sustainability long before it became an
identifiable term in architecture. We
were involved in many of the landmark energy efficiency projects in the
70s. We installed automated, exterior MechoShades on one of Sym Van
der Ryn’s most notable projects, the
Bateson state office building in Sacramento. He did many things that were
so far ahead of everyone else, he created a tremendous atrium with trees
and plants inside, clear glass
on the building and automated exterior shades in the European style. We had to build
our own computer because
you didn’t have PCs in those
days and create hand-wired
mechanical relays. That was
the first building with motorized shades that moved according to the sun. It used
25% of the energy its peers
were using and I bet it’s still
competitive today.
In 1997, I went to the first EnvironDesign conference and I
heard Bill McDonough, Penny Bonda, and Bill Browning from the Rocky Mountain Institute speak there. I
also had long talks with Bill
O’Dell and a few years later
with Sandy Mendler from the
HOK Green Team. It really
opened up my eyes to a lot of issues.
I realized that we have to look not just
at what our product can do for a building, but at what goes into it and how we
make it. I sat down with our mill, and
said, “PVC-coated polyester fabric will
be obsolete one day. We need to develop materials that will be considered
sustainable.” The mill’s owner, Geoff
Pitman, said OK. Two years later, the
day we were supposed to meet with
Bill McDonough, Geoff Pitman passed
away at 49. He was my closest friend
in the business, which was devastating to me. The project had a bit of a
setback, to say the least. The mill ultimately changed hands and I started
discussing the PVC-free shade cloth
project with the new management
team, which they went on to develop up
to a point. After having them read William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s book Cradle to Cradle, I was
able to get our mill to meet with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). MechoShade and our
mill agreed to hire MBDC jointly to develop the shade cloth further and optimize it for sustainability by applying
MBDC”s protocol. MBDC reviewed all
the chemical inputs up to 100 parts
Cont’d on page 8, Berman . . .
TM
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. . . Berman, Cont’d from page 7
per million (ppm) and evaluated their
“greenness”, and recommended substitute components for those items that
were not “sustainable.” That’s how we
came out with EcoVeil. We did a sneak
preview of EcoVeil at EnvironDesign
2004 and the official launch was at
NeoCon 2004.
When I read Cradle to Cradle, I thought
McDonough and Braungart’s approach
to product and material development
made a lot of sense. One of the problems with the vinyl-coated polyester
or fiberglass shade cloth used by the
industry is that the two dissimilar materials constitute what MBDC calls a
“monstrous hybrid.” If someone wanted to send the shade back to me at
the end of its useful life, I wouldn’t be
able to separate the vinyl jacket from
the polyester core to recycle it. We engineered EcoVeil so that the core yarn
and the outside yarn are the same polymer. I can grind it up and extrude new
yarn out of EcoVeil and the only downcycling that takes place is in color: you
can’t make white from grey yarn, so recycled material tends to be made into
darker colors. We are proud to have a
three-dot MBDC rating (one can get
more information at www.mbdc.com).
We have given out EcoVeil samples
and I’m fighting off customers while we
ramp up production!
OI: When you add something to the
shade to make it flame-retardant,
does that affect its sustainability?
JB: Yes and no. It didn’t receive
four dots because of the flame retardant. It was very frustrating because
we tried out several potential new,
“green”, flame-retardant additives. In
Cradle to Cradle, McDonough and
Braungart talk about being good versus “less bad.” If you have a hybrid car
that gets 50 miles to the gallon versus
ten miles, they’re both bad but one’s a
lot less bad than the other. EcoVeil is
a good product because we can keep
it out of landfills and incinerators. We
can implement a take-back program to
keep it in a closed-loop environment.
The small percentage of retardant required to meet fire codes, combined
with the ability to recycle and keep in
closed loop, keep EcoVeil sustainable.
And our product would be 100% good
rather than rather than 95% less bad if
we had a green flame-retardant.
OI: Is that going to be possible in
the future? Is that something you’re
working on?
JB: Yes, I believe it is possible to get
a 100% green material, though whether it will take six months, a year, or
five years, I can’t tell you. Part of the
MBDC protocol is an ongoing process
of improvement, and they are always
looking for new technologies to bring
to their clients. Also, we want to make
sure our take-back program really
works. When a tenant moves out and
you’ve got construction workers doing
demolition, how many people are going to try to save their shades? We’re
trying to design a label that will go on
the shade to inform the end-user and
I want to have a registration policy to
track these shades. It won’t be easy,
but unlike most carpet and ceiling tile
manufacturers with take-back programs, we cut 90% of what we weave
in our two factories in Arizona and in
New Jersey, so we have the opportunity to capture the scrap from the initial
production of the shade. Right now, if
all our production were converted to
EcoVeil we would eliminate 1,000,000
lbs. of waste to landfills and incinerators. I think PVC replacement is a big
issue in this industry. Rather than rely
solely on some percentage of shades
coming back to us from an end-user in
ten years, we can start making an impact now. We can implement a closed
loop in a way that will see benefits
sooner than other “end of use” models.
OI: Does your company still have
the dominant position in the industry? What are your plans for the future?
JB: Yes, we have a very dominant position. There are plenty of people making solar shades now, but that’s been
good for us: our commercial market
share may have declined from 98% to
still over 50%, but it’s 50% of a much
larger market.
We’re working very hard to make online tools available to guide designers
and specifiers. You can’t just specify
solar shading; you have to think about
what you’re doing in terms of size, layout, fabric selection etc. If you take the
time to sit down with someone who is
knowledgeable, you could save a lot of
money by reducing the number of motors or eliminating seams in the fabric based on how wide the windows
and shade cloth are. There are so
many times when I can save a client
10-30% or more, just by laying out the
project efficiently, without sacrificing
design intent. Our sales staff is available to assist any time, anywhere, to
talk about one shade or 1,000 shades.
We’re also looking into integration with
lighting and AV controls, so we’re partnering with companies like Crestron
and Leviton.
I think MechoShades have gotten so
popular because architects and designers recognize that they’re the least
obtrusive, most effective products. It
gives them the most communication
with the outside, it provides very good
control over light levels and it lets designers have fun with fabric.

A&D Building
150 E. 58th Street • New York
(between Lexington & Third)
Teknion,12th Floor
Located in the heart of Midtown
Manhattan, the A&D Building has over
200,000 sq.ft. of showrooms dedicated to
commercial and residential furnishings.
It is surrounded by 400 million sq.ft.
of office space, which offers convenient
access to thousands of corporate
end users.
For more information, visit
adbuilding.com, or call
212.644.2766.
The A&D Building is managed by
Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI).
MMPI manages The Merchandise Mart in
Chicago and The NeoCon® Shows.
TM
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Teknion’s Contesssa Chair
by David Lasker
N
ot since Teknion introduced the
wasp-waisted Dharma chair, designed by the ubiquitous Zooey Chu
about 15 years ago, has Teknion had
such a charismatic, memorable entry
in the hotly competitive upper-end task
chair market as its new Contessa. Indeed, the Contessa bids fair to become a
steadily bestselling “sleeper” for Teknion,
analogous to the firm’s venerable T/
O/S in the systems-furniture category.
“We were looking for a chair that
would fill out our offering and offer real
competition to the existing competitors’
products,” says Frank Delfino, Senior
Vice-President, Teknion Corporation
and President, Canadian and International Markets. “What we found,” adds
David Feldberg, President and CEO, “is
a chair that takes the office mesh chair to
the next level.”
Contessa created quite a buzz this
past June when it won a Gold Award in
the 2004 Industrial Design Excellence
Awards co-sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America and
BusinessWeek. It was the only product
to receive a Gold award in the Furniture
category. “This stunning piece raises the
bar for office seating,” commented Kap
Malik, Vice-President of Gensler and
one of the competition judges. Herman
Miller’s Mirra chair received a Silver and
Allsteel’s Sum chair took a Bronze.
Briefly, Contessa’s attributes include
“smart operation” intuitive controls that
can be easily adjusted from the seated
position; Tess mesh (patent pending)
that’s soft to the touch and won’t damage fabrics such as women’s nylons
and men’s suits; a friendly, inviting look;
a range of color and finish options; and
an optional headrest, coat hanger and
leather-upholstered seat. Addressing
environmental concerns, Contessa is
GREENGUARD Certified and 95% recyclable.
Montreal-based Yellow Pages recently ordered 650 Contessa chairs as
part of a renovation of its headquarters.
“We really liked the Leap chair when
we chose it for some of our floors. But
when Contessa became available,” says
André Castelli, Yellow Pages Director of
Administration, “We really appreciated
the beautiful, very stylish Italian design.
Looks are very important for us, but it
also has the functionality and adjustments we want to enable us to meet the
needs of our employees. And price is
important: Everything on the Contessa
is standard.” This last attribute is one of
Contessa’s major selling points, explains
Yves Quenneville, Teknion’s Director
of Regional Sales in Montreal. “Yellow
Pages liked the fact that the chair is fullfeatured. There are no hidden costs, no
up-charge for optional lumbar supports,
adjustable arms, and so on.”
Functional
advantages apart,
the Contessa’s Italian
design heritage gives
it a flair and
bella figura
that distinguish it from
some of its
rivals. Even
the name,
Contessa,
connotes
something
warm and
fuzzy.
Still, how
good,
exTeknion: Contessa
actly, is the
Contessa? The sidebar lists Contessa’s
features; you can use it as a guide for
comparison for chairs you are using or
considering.
Consider, for instance, incremental
vs. continuous arm-height adjustments.
Contessa’s mechanism for adjusting the
arm height and the tilt tension locks and
releases at precise increments while
giving audible feedback. Many prefer
this stepped control to the continuous
(and in some cases, apparently endless) adjustment mechanism found in
other chairs that offer no practical way
to restore a favored setting or precisely
align both arms.
Adjusting the depth of the lumbar pillow is another simple matter: Contessa
users merely rotate a conveniently located dial at the side while remaining seated. And, Contessa’s pillow has an unusually large surface to ensure a wide
distribution of the lumbar force, which
avoids the feeling that you are being
poked or accu-punctured.
Cont’d on page 10, Teknion . . .
TM
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while the left-hand lever controls the tilt angle. The chair can be upright, free-floating
or locked at any of five increments.
. . . Teknion, Cont’d from page 9
A seat slider enables the seat pan to
move in and out to accommodate different-sized users; Contessa’s adjustment
is conveniently located under the chair,
at the side.
For those who like to relax on the
job, Contessa’s optional headrest offers adjustments in height, depth and
angle of rotation to maintain the spine’s
natural “C” curve in the cervical vertebrae. The headrest’s styling reiterates
the form of the lumbar pillow to present
a handsome, unified appearance.
When
ready made
is not enough!
213.626.6200
212.966.9494
www.dtank.com
 Contessa’s controls were designed to
make their use intuitive. When you touch a
control, the shape directs your fingers how
to use it. Push, pull or turn; there’s no need
to look. These “smart operations” allow the
user to make quick and easy adjustments
from the seated position. This makes the
chair incredibly comfortable over a long
period of time, even for different-sized
workers who share the same chair on alternate shifts.
Contessa can be raised, lowered or
reclined by using levers conveniently located in the armrest. The lever on the
right-hand side controls the seat height
Under the seat, a dial controls back-tilt
tension. This typically complex user interface has been greatly simplified. Instead of
requiring countless revolutions to achieve
the desired tension, Contessa’s dial has
four click-stop settings located a quarterturn apart. If someone else adjusts the tension, resetting it is as simple as can be. Interestingly, some Teknion competitors are
Cont’d on page 11, Teknion . . .
TM
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Ergonomic Actuators
. . .Teknion, Cont’d from page 10
now employing the four-position tension
control feature pioneered by Contessa.
There’s also a strong environmental component to Contessa. Like all Teknion office
furniture products, Contessa is GREENGUARD Certified. This recognizes that the
chair is low in chemical emissions, which
contributes to better indoor air quality.
“Contessa is a domesticated mesh chair.
It incorporates high-end materials and a
broad color palette, and yet, it looks inviting
rather than threatening,” comments Maurice Elkeslassy, Teknion’s Director Of Design: Seating Design and Innovation. Contessa’s frame is available in a painted finish
or, for a more high-end look, polished aluminum. A coordinating upholstered seat is
available for customers who don’t want an
all-mesh chair. “However,” he says, “This is
no ordinary mesh. It is so unusual it has a
patent pending and a unique name, Tess
(for ConTESSa) mesh.” The material was
developed in response to three complaints
often heard about mesh: 1) its potential for
damage to ladies’ nylons and men’s business suits, 2) its shiny, cold looking appearance and 3) it outdoor-furniture feel.
Tess mesh combines two fibers, with a
more-pliable material superimposed above
a stiffer structural member that provides
proper sitting support. This approach, said
Mr. Elkeslassy, “gives Tess mesh its unusual, warm and inviting quality. It is definitely softer to the touch than regular mesh
and it won’t snare your clothing. Since the
launch of Contessa, some of our competitors have begun adopting a softer mesh,
but no other manufacturer has successfully married it with an underlying support
fiber.”
Contessa’s parts are easy to separate
so the chair can be easily updated in the
field. You can see each part, and each one
is labeled so you know what to do with it
afterwards. “This little detail is important
because people often buy products that
can be recycled,” said Mr. Elkeslassy. “But
they don’t know what it takes to actually go
through with the recycling. They end up
ditching it in a land-fill.”
officeinsight frequently exhorts readers
to attend trade shows. Teknion’s discovery
of the Contessa chair is an object lesson
in how wonderful relationships can evolve
from serendipitous trade-show encounters.
Teknion often draws on the expertise of international designers to supplement the inhouse design team’s capabilities. So it happened that Mr. Elkeslassy was wending
Actuator Accessibility
• maintain sitting posture
(vs. must reach down)
Actuator Knobs
large, easy to feel
(vs. small, awkward, must look)
Actuator Recline Angle, Lock
at fingertips
(vs. under seat)
Actuator Seat Height
• at fingertips
(vs.under seat)
Armrests
his way through the corridors of Orgatec in
Cologne, Germany, in late 2002 when he
spotted the Contessa.
It was a coup de foudre (love at first sight),
he recalls. “My first encounter with Contessa brought on a ‘Wow!’ sensation. Then the
skeptic in me kicked in. Did the world really need another office chair? Specifically,
a mesh task chair?” Mr. Elkeslassy asks,
then answers his own question. “There is
always room for a chair like Contessa that
redefines the state of the art.” The chair
was designed by Turin-based Giugiaro
Design, established in 1981 by Giorgetto
Giugiaro and well known for its automotive
work for Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Bugatti,
DeLorean and Fiat. Engineering is by the
Okamura Corporation of Japan.
Teknion has licensed Contessa for the
North American market. Teknion modified
the chair to enable it to comply with BIFMA
(Business Institute of Furniture Manufacturer’s Association), ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and other North
American ergonomic standards for office
furniture. “We also tweaked the chair so
that it meets the diverse dimensional and
adjustment requirements of 95% of the
world’s working population,” Mr. Elkeslassy
says. “Consequently, Contessa can accommodate users of almost any size and
shape.

…………………………………
David Lasker is Associate Editor of
Canadian Interiors, and is Vice President
of MarketLink Communications, whose
clients include Teknion. He can be
reached at [email protected].
Armrest Height
• armrests move independently
• precise, repeatable increments
• lift armrest to adjust
(vs.push button or turn wheel to
adjust)
Armrest Pivot
• pivots left and right
Seat
Seat Slider
• seat slider available
(vs.adjustment at side)
Tension Control
• four quarter turns
(vs.countless turns)
Tilt Mechanism
• synchro
(vs.reverse synchro, other)
Back
Lumbar Support
• adjustable height x2
• adjustable depth x1 x2
• evenly distributed
Finish Options
Mesh Construction
• different in seat than back
Seat Upholstery Options
• mesh or upholstered seat
(vs. mesh only or • upholstery only)
Other Attributes
Headrest
• available
• adjustable
Thin-Profile Frame
TM
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LA Notes: Couture Fashion Labels
by Beverly Russell
Workplace Resource
Ware
Malcomb
sponsored by Interior
Office Solutions
An ad hoc group of
designers sponsored
Barrone
Resource
Group
HKS sponsored by
Steve Francis Associates
 Hirsch-Bedner
sponsored by Momentum Textiles
Gensler sponsored
by KI (LA office)
WWCOT sponsored
by Falcon
California
State
Long Beach student
team sponsored by Allsteel.
The criteria for entering this fashion show
calls for much thought
and upfront work ahead
of the actual frenzied
evening’s activity. Each
team provides a script
(read by the fashion
show MC actor Nick
HOK: Dinner at the White House
Arquette) along with
(model Andrea Bewak)
music appropriate to
the particular “couture”
his year’s annual IIDA Southern Cal- creation. In judging the first, second and
ifornia Chapter’s “Haunt Couture” third place winners, the 10-person jury
gala, held at the American Legion land- is allowed to give extra points if the prinmark building on Highland in Hollywood, cipal of the design firm or sponsor acts
just prior to Halloween and the Presi- as the fashion model. (This rarely hapdential Election was aptly themed “Poli- pens).
tics of Fashion.” About 250 party-goers
Alas still grounded by our knee surgathered for this extraordinary evening,
gery,
we relied on friends who were there
in which nine teams of designers were
to
give
us the full picture of the evening’s
assigned to create a runway model outfit
fun
and
we are specially grateful to Steve
in 45 minutes from a selection of fabrics
Francis
for actually tape recording some
from a pool available on site. This year’s
comments
for us. D’Tank’s Harriet Mortextiles were provided by Maharam,
gan
declared
the event “the coolest thing
Carnegie, DesignTex, Deepa, Pallas,
to
see
the
LA
design community come
Knoll Textiles, Jhane Barnes and othtogether
in
such
an enthusiastic way.”
ers. Each team consisted of six people,
She
thought
the
Hollywood
venue with
and each was sponsored by an indusits
historical
political
photographs
hung
try partner. The lineup was as follows:
around the walls “awesome” and the poJohnson Fain sponsored by Herman litical theme a great way “to start the holiMiller
day season.” “Incredible,” said Gensler’s
HOK sponsored by Herman Miller Larry Bisson, among other remarks.
T
“Tonight is crazy and fun,” added All
Steel’s Patricia Janovic. “It is an outgoing expression of our industry’s talents
and is so well received.”
What of the political themes? Here
there was a consensus of what really
matters on the Best Left Coast, as six
out of the nine teams presented their inspired fashion statements of “Same Sex
Marriage.” The remaining three teams
expressed “Ecology,” “Lady Liberty” and
“Dinner at the White House.” Each was
“drastically different,” said Herman Miller’s Barbara Hass, who co-directed the
gala with Deepa’s Elizabeth Dea.
Johnson Fain: Miss LEED
(model Trina Guenther)
And the winners were? First place
to Johnson Fain’s “Miss LEED” ecology
model who dramatized environmental
causes in her sensational outfit. Second
place was taken by HOK with an elaborate “Dinner at the White House,” concept. Ware Malcomb’s “Wedding Dress
as Cage,” was judged the best of the
variations on “Same Sex Marriage,” and
took third prize.
Proceeds from ticket sales for the
evening go to Inner City Arts, an charitable, innovative learning institution providing free extra-mural classes in music,
dance, theater, painting, ceramics, sculpCont’d on page 13, LA Notes . . .
TM
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. . .LA Notes, Cont’d from page 12
ture and design to under-privileged youngsters in grade schools around LA.
Other sponsors who supported the “Haunt
Couture” event and deserve credit included
Tangram Interiors, (Santa Fe Springs office),
Corporate Contractors, Taslimi Construction, Clune Construction, Interface, Constantine, D’Tank, Durkan, Frazee Paint,
Haworth, Holga, Solutia and Steelcase.
Three partners from “Presents Entertainment,” Tamalin Srisook, Kerri-Ann Leblang, Azumi Sagara pitched in pro bono to
put a very professional Hollywood touch on
the show. Committee Co-Chairs were Kristin
Bard Goldman and Gretchen Hoerdeman.
Photography was done by Justin Brevoort.
..........................................................................................
Beverly Russell is an author, editor and educator based in Los Angeles. She presents
“The Enrichment Workshop: Walking the
Labyrinth” a .2CEU program for self-discovery and business success to architects and
designers. More details bevruss@sbcglobal.
net. Phone 310 247 1633

The Judges’ Table
CELEBRATING LEFT COAST DESIGN
elegantly to the client’s needs and desires? (How does something
Think different. Across the planet, people
so inexpensive manage to perform so well?) What’s happening
associate this mantra with Northern California. Music, marriage,
here that we can’t see? We want the “backstory.” Wherever you
car-sharing—whatever it is, we’ve got our own slant on it. Design
go, there you are. Anything goes, location wise, as long as your
is no exception. We think of it as a team sport, so our Design
practice is located here. (How’s that for Northern Californian?)
Competition is focused on collaboration—designers + clients-
But we’re looking for evidence of a Left Coast sensibility-
that produces something extraordinary. Connect the dots. How
whether your project’s in Bali or Iowa. How does it contribute
did you get here? How does something this beautiful respond so
to a better life, make for a better planet?
Schedule
November 19, 2004
Last date for entries to be postmarked
[email protected]
Send your entry form
and submittal to:
IIDA Northern California Chapter
P.O. Box 192995
San Francisco, CA 94119
Jury
Stanley Abercrombie
Author of
Interior Design
1900–2000
and former editor of
Interior Design
Heidi Painchaud
Partner and Lead Designer
Wirt Design Group
Scott Olivet
VP, NIKE Subsidiaries and
Business Development
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Interface Hosts a Colour-ful Evening
Material of the Week
by Lauren Weinberg
MC# 5089-01
Decorative Glass
Jill Pilaroscia
J
ill Pilaroscia of Colour Studio, Inc.,
told a group of New York designers
how they could “Experience the Power
of Color” at a presentation sponsored
by Interface on Oct. 28, 2004. Ms. Pilaroscia’s San Francisco-based firm has
been consulting with Interface’s sales
force about color and helped integrate
color into the Bentley mill in City of Industry, CA. (Colour Studio’s clients have
also included Herman Miller, Carnegie
Fabrics, Milliken Carpet, and Haworth.)
Ms. Pilaroscia’s presentation emphasized color’s psychological impact. “The
absence of color is not benign . . . living
with an absence of color is debilitating,”
she said, quoting Ruth Lande Shuman,
founder of the nonprofit organization Publicolor.
Although some of her prescriptions
may seem self-explanatory – when
choosing colors for a space, think about
the activities that will be performed there;
try to accentuate its positive features,
etc. – they are not being manifested in
many projects. For example, “We have a
preconception that little kids only ‘get’ primary colors,” stated Ms. Pilaroscia, “but
think about how over-stimulating they
are!” She noted that housing develop-
ments are often a depressing beige and
grey, or beige and more beige. Museums
and galleries often cause eye fatigue as
visitors alternate their gazes between
colorful art and white walls. Hospitals
sometimes decide to saturate each floor
with one color to facilitate wayfinding,
aggravating the nurses who have to live
with it day after day. Designers should
generally try to achieve a balance, unless – as in a project Colour Studio did
for IDEO – the client specifically requests a discordant color scheme.
Based on Ms. Pilaroscia’s presentation, the hospitality industry seems
to have the most sophisticated use of
color and the best understanding of
how to use it to create a mood. Healthcare and education are improving, but
the office has a ways to go…and from
a show of hands, most of the audience
primarily worked with corporate clients.
Ms. Pilaroscia informed them that office workers’ eyes mainly focus on their
walls, their desks, and their computer
screens. Placing accent colors with 1520 ft. of their cubicles will stimulate them
by forcing their pupils to open and close.
In general, she added, office environments should avoid both “oatmeal” color
schemes and ones that induce “eye aerobics” through sensory overload.
Ms. Pilaroscia noted that although
there are universal psychological responses to color, we all have subjective
ones as well. She encouraged designers
to keep this in mind when working with
reluctant clients. In addition to personal
biases, some may even be color-blind.
“This is good to remember if your client
says, ‘I don’t like that brown,’ and you
think it’s vermilion,” said Ms. Pilaroscia.
It is difficult to study adults’ reactions
to color because they have so many subjective associations with it, but Ms. Pilaroscia hopes color selection will increasingly be based on scientific research as
well as aesthetics. She concluded by
advising designers to “be objective [in
choosing colors] and be aware of your
subjective preferences.”
For more information, visit www.colourstudio.com or www.interfaceflooring.com.

Decorative laminated glass that incorporates objects embedded in resin.
Natural and synthetic objects are embedded in a UV resistant clear resin and
then sandwiched between two sheets of
float glass. There are currently over 100
materials in the line though virtually any
material may be captured in the resin interlayer including 3-D textiles, plants and
grasses, metal and polymer objects. The
sheets are available in sizes from 3 x 3
in up to 10 x 10 ft (7.6 x 7.6 in up to 3.05
x 3.05 m) and in thicknesses from 1/2 to
2 in (1.27 – 5.1 cm); various surface textures are also available. Current applications are for interior curtain walls, doors,
countertops, backsplashes and decorative surfaces.
....................................................................
This column is published in collaboration with Material ConneXion. Contact
information related to the material described in this week’s column, is available without charge at http://www.materialconnexion.com/officeinsight, after
completing the form provided.
T: 212.842.2050.

TM
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InformeDesign Introduces Enhancements
by Lauren Weinberg
nformeDesign® (www.informedesign.
umn.edu), the free online searchable database for design- and human
behavior-related academic research,
has been updated and given several
crucial enhancements that make it
more user-friendly than ever before.
The site looks about the same, however, its data, coding, and functionality
have been “redone from scratch,” according to Caren Martin, Ph.D., CID,
Director of InformeDesign, who says
users are “thrilled with the changes.”
She added, “We wanted to make [designers’] time on InformeDesign as
efficient as possible and the research
as accessible as possible.” Dr. Martin
noted that the enhancements were requested by users or were impossible
to offer when InformeDesign was first
being developed, between 2001 and
2002, due to the technology of the time.
One of the most useful enhancements is “MyInformeDesign,” which
allows registered users (no charge to
register) to store the Research Summaries that interest them on the site’s
server instead of on their hard drives.
“We know that many people don’t work
in the same place all the time; they
don’t always use the same computer
and their hard drives are pressed for
storage,” explained Dr. Martin. Users
can organize stored summaries into
categories that they name themselves,
classifying them as anything from “hospital project” to “stuff I sent to Dave.”
It is also easier to search for Research Summaries. Users can now
sort the results of a full-text search (by
using the “Search Research Summaries” box), or a keyword search using
InformeDesign’s three parent categories: Space, Issues, and Occupants by
author name, date of publication, or by
the date they were added to the Web
site. Users can also select Research
Summaries for inclusion in a “marked
list” and then review that smaller group
of Research Summaries for review or
for saving on MyInformeDesign. Shorter URLs – much shorter – make navigation a breeze.
InformeDesign’s glossary of terms
has also been enhanced. In addition
to accessing the definition of a term
I
by clicking on the highlighted (hyperlinked) words within each Research
Summary (which tend to be technical,
architectural/design, or research-related), users can now search the glossary directly by inputting the desired term
instead of scrolling through an entire
section of the alphabet. This feature is
particularly useful because “some of
these terms cannot be found in a standard dictionary anyway,” according to
Dr. Martin.
Users also have greater “notifications control.” If you are going to be
away from the office for an extended
period of time, it is easy to suspend InformeDesign’s regular e-mail notifications about new Research Summaries,
which were based on topics/issues you
identified when you registered with the
site. Just remember, that if you do suspend your notifications, they are not
stockpiled for you, for retrieval later. Email notifications are also issued when
InformeDesign’s monthly newsletter,
“Implications,” is published. Just click
on the link in the e-mail message and
go directly to the newly published issue. They are available in PDF format
and focus on a topic of interest. This
month’s “Implications,” by Kevin Flynn,
AIA, LEED AP, is about becoming a
LEED-accredited professional. With all
e-mail notifications, the hyperlink takes
you right to the new literature, so you’re
there in a single click. Harried design
practitioners will be relieved to know
that the site now offers an automatic
username and password reminder,
too.
The diversity of publications from
which Research Summaries are drawn
continues to grow—there is research
coming from over 90-refereed journals.
The site’s sources include every type
of scholarly research from publications
such as the Journal of Emergency
Nursing and the Academy of Management Jounal. Go to the site’s “Sources
of Literature” for a full list—you’ll be
impressed. InformeDesign’s goal is to
transform findings from refereed journal articles into “practitioner-friendly”
language, says Dr. Martin. The design
professions—interior designers, architects, landscape architects, urban
planners, etc., are embracing research
to a greater extent. One proof of this
is InformeDesign’s success: last month
alone, more than 67,000 pages were
downloaded from the site and over
7,200 unique visitors went to the site.
At the same time, Dr. Martin suggests that designers must take on
more individual responsibility for integrating research into their work: “They
have to take the moxie they have for
product and client research and apply
it to design and human behavior research.” InformeDesign can help them
build their knowledge base and give
them a “common language” with clients and consultants. We recommend
a return visit!
InformeDesign is the first searchable
database of design and human behavior research on the Web. The site currently contains nearly 800 Research
Summaries. All services on the site
are available at no cost to users. The
site also offers a calendar of research
related events, and research tutorials and Web casts available for CEU
credits. InformeDesign is a collaboration between ASID and the University
of Minnesota. Drs. Denise Guerin and
Caren Martin are its co-creators. ASID
sponsored InformeDesign with a grant
of over $1.18 million to the University
of Minnesota in 2001 for a period of
four years.

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Tectonic Studio
Finish of the Week
Carnegie
Carnegie is pleased to introduce its new Art of Light collection of upholstery fabrics by Laura Kirar and its Visual Language Collection by Dawn Hettrich.
Visual Language Collection by Dawn Hettrich
Carnegie introduces an exciting new upholstery collection
designed by Dawn Hettrich. Dawn is an artist who has focused
on textiles as her medium. She believes drawing is about forgetting what you think you know and believing what you see.
For this collection Dawn focused on the beauty and contour
of her line art. The evolution of the development process is the
essence of the end result. Beginning this work with sketches
in Chinese brush and pencil, she concentrated on the individuality of a shape and its dimension. These drawings come
to life as the textile enhances the art, the yarns and weaves
transform the artwork on paper into a new language. This new
language is visual and tactile, expressing shape and form with
a new voice.
The color and textures intersect and intermix creating a
sophisticated atmosphere. Everything is interconnected, from
fiber to structure, to shape.
Carnegie: Visual Language
Carnegie: Art of Light
Art of Light Collection by Laura Kirar
Working with Carnegie design vice president Mary
Holt, Kirar—who is the founding creative director of
the noted design firm TRU Design—has created a collection inspired by nature and natural light to capture
the way in which both can enhance our surroundings
through form and shadows. As an avid photographer
of natural landscapes, Kirar translated her images into
luminescent fabrics that reflect the motion, speed and
overall energy of light in graphic patterns available in
vibrant, fresh and contemporary color palettes.
Carnegie is a leading manufacturer and innovator
of contract textiles in North America. Since 1950, the
family-owned company has established a tradition of
firsts, including the development of its own Xorel fabrics, which provide a durable alternative to PVC materials and is included in the collection of the Smithsonian
Institution. In addition, it has built a reputation for its
ongoing and comprehensive commitment to the environment through all parts of its business cycle. www.
carnegiefabrics.com.
For more information, please contact: Carnegie at
800-727-6770 or visit www.carnegiefabrics.com.
...............................................................................................
This column is published in collaboration with Tectonic
Studio, the online resource library for commercial interior
finishes. To see this collection and its companion products, sign up today at: www.tectonicstudio.com.
Select, compare, create digital design boards, order
samples and… it’s FREE!

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Product Intros
Deepa Textiles has released their
latest collection, Glassworks: Vertical
Surface, which is 100% recycled polyester. For more information, visit www.
deepa.com.
Karastan: Fabrique
Noteworthy
Deepa: Glassworks
Karastan Contract has introduced
Fabrique, a carpet with the feel of a
nubby boucle fabric. The non-directional carpet is made with air-twisted skein
dyed Solutia Ultron yarn. Fabrique is
available in 13 neutral colors. For more
information, visit www.karastancontract.com.
Cecilia Gunning, RA, Associate,
of San Francisco-based Richard Pollack & Associates (POLLACK) recently passed her exams to become
a Registered Architect. Ms. Gunning
has been with POLLACK for five years
and has played a leading role in many
projects, including the recent expansion of The North Face’s headquarters
in San Leandro, CA, and new wholesale showroom in New York.
John Lynch has won the governorship
of New Hampshire from incumbent Gov.
Craig Benson (R). Mr. Lynch, a Democrat, is the former president and CEO of
Smart Office Advisors
600 HM Ethospace stations
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8x8 fully loaded-midbelt elect & data
trim: black umber, fabric: oyster grey
lam: MT
800 Criterion chairs
200 Keilhauer chairs
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267-977-5402 JJ
Knoll. Although this will be his first time
in an elected office, he has served as
executive director of New Hampshire’s
Democratic Party. Mr. Lynch resigned
as chairman of the University of New
Hampshire Board of Trustees to run for
governor.
Stephen M. Miner will relinquish the
titles of President and CEO of Teknion
LLC and be appointed Chairman of the
company and Stephen L. Silver will be
appointed President of Teknion LLC, effective Dec. 1, 2004. Mr. Miner will report directly to David Feldberg, President and CEO of Teknion Corporation,
and will continue to serve as a member
of Teknion Corporation’s Board of Directors. Mr. Silver, who previously served
as President of Azon Corporation, a
leading manufacturer of specialty products used in the architectural and design
industry, has been COO of Teknion LLC
since Apr. 2004. He will also report directly to Mr. Feldberg.
Ezra Stoller has died at 89. Trained
as an architect, Mr. Stoller photographed
icons of postwar Modernism including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim
Museum, Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal and Louis I. Kahn’s Salk Institute
for Biological Studies. He received the
AIA’s Architectural Photography Medal
in 1961 and founded the photo agency
Esto Photographics in 1966.
A10, an Amsterdam-based magazine
about architecture in Europe, began
publication this month. It will be offered
six times a year and will include coverage of projects, news, interviews and
commentary. For more information, visit
www.a10magazine.com.
BetterBricks has announced the winners of its second annual awards program, which honors commercial building professionals for their commitment
to sustainable, high performance building in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Jerry Yudelson, Associate Principal and Sustainability Director for Interface Engineering, tied with Rob
Bennett, Senior Manager of Technical
and Financial Services with the City of
Portland Office of Sustainable Development, for the Advocate Award. Rob
Curry, AIA, LEED AP, Principal of Yost
Grube Hall Architecture, won the Architect Award. Jim Winkler, President
of Winkler Development Corporation,
won the Developer Award for his comCont’d next page , . . .
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. . . Cont’d from previous page
mitment to sustainable projects. Paul
Schwer, Principal at PAE Consulting
Engineers, won the Engineering Award
for his 20-year commitment to sustainable design. Finally, the Professional
Services Award went to Mike Faha,
Principal at GreenWorks, for his sustainable landscape architecture.
California’s Integrated Waste Management Board has launched a Green
Lodging Program to encourage travelers to stay at “green hotels.” The program was introduced at San Francisco’s Hotel Triton, which recycles 60% of
its waste. To be included in the Green
Lodging Program, hospitality facilities
must establish recycling programs; incorporate food scrap and yard waste
composting programs where cost-effective; participate in donation programs for
food, surplus furniture, electronics, and
other items; use refillable amenity dispensers or minimally packaged items in
recyclable materials; purchase in bulk to
reduce excess waste from packaging;
minimize use of disposable items; install energy- and water-efficient fixtures,
lighting, and other equipment; use nontoxic (or less toxic) alternatives for cleaning supplies, paints, etc.; and adopt an
environmental purchasing policy for
preferable products.
Cargill Dow’s corn-based plastic,
polylactic acid (PLA), seems to be getting more of a boost from rising oil prices
than environmental concerns, according
to a recent article by Thaddeus Herrick
in The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Herrick
reports that PLA sales rose 60% in the
first nine months of 2004 from the yearearlier period and the plastic’s manufacturing costs have plummeted. Although
it is still more expensive than its petroleum-based competitor, polyethylene
terephthalate (PET), the gap is closing
as oil prices rise. Meanwhile, DuPont
Co. is working on a corn-and- petroleum-based fabric called Sorona with
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British company Tate & Lyle PLC.
Crest Office Products has announced that it is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. As a result of its recent growth, the New York-based company now operates a branch office in
Lewes, DE, covering South and Central
Delaware.
“Competition in the office products industry today is tougher than it’s ever
been,” says current president Jordan
Kudler, whose father, Charles, founded
Crest in 1974 and whose brothers, Robert and Brian, are also actively involved
today. “But thanks to a fierce commitment to taking care of our customers better than anyone else, backed up by solid management and some key strategic
partnerships, we’ve been able to compete successfully against much larger
companies and still keep growing!”
The GSA is seeking an architect to
design the new $10 million Thomas J.
McIntyre Building at Pease International
Tradeport in New Hampshire. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 8, 2004.
The building, which will be LEED-certified, will be 97,000 sq. ft. and will house
about 250 employees. The GSA hopes
to choose an architect by Jan. 2005 and
open the building in Sept. 2008.
IFMA has introduced an Online Learning Center offering self-study courses.
They are intended to help Certified Facility Manager (CFM) candidates fill educational gaps, Facility Management
Professional (FMP) participants meet
program requirements, and professionals in related fields obtain CEUs. The
Center is currently offering two competency courses, with additional options
available soon. The first, “FM Technology,” costs $123.75 per module for IFMA
members and $173.75 for non-members. The second, “FM Finance,” costs
$99 per module for IFMA members and
$139 for non-members. For more information, visit www.ifma.org/profdev/
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self_study.cfm.
is.group has negotiated an agreement with eCommerce Industries,
Inc. (ECI2), by which is.group members
who use the DDMS back-end computer
system and who are using the group’s
is.D-Force online ordering platform will
benefit from an 11% advantage on their
monthly DDMS maintenance invoice
and will not be charged hosting fees
or transaction fees, regardless of their
monthly is.D-Force sales volume. In addition, the start-up fee for DDMS dealers who become is.D-Force dealers has
been reduced from $1250 to $250.
“Over the past three years, is.D-Force
has established itself as a true best-ofbreed e-commerce solution and given
more than 300 dealers a powerful tool
to go up against their big box competition online and come out winners,” commented is.group president and CEO
John Kreidel. “These changes, combined with additional enhancements
that we will be announcing shortly,
mean there are more reasons than ever
to become an is.D-Force dealer, both in
terms of overall value to the dealer and
functionality for end-users.”
Material Connexion is opening a
new materials resource office in Cologne, Germany, its second international
location after the Milan office it opened
in Sept. 2002. Peter Meyer, the President of Survey Marketing and Consulting, will serve as President of Material
Connexion Cologne, which will feature
a comprehensive materials library with
hundreds of samples.
Material Connexion Founder and President George M. Beylerian explains,
“Germany has a particular view on design. Many consider it the birthplace of
modern design. Everything from German architecture to automobiles and
household products are characterized
by an elegant clean and simple look,
Cont’d on next page ...
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. . . Cont’d from preceding page
while offering outstanding functionality.
By opening our second international office
in Cologne we can enable designers of all
industries to efficiently simplify their design
process.”
Managing Director Michele Caniato added, “Opening in Germany is part of a plan
to expand Material Connexion into the European design community. . . . Material
Connexion is now focusing on expanding
in the UK as well as the Far East. These
plans will roll out over the next two years.”
For more information, visit www.materialconnexion.com.
Metrosexuals are transforming the
workplace, according to Chicago Tribune
columnist Carol Kleiman. The word, which
seems to be linked to Bravo’s television
show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,”
connotes a straight man who displays a
stereotypically feminine concern for his appearance, interior design, and the arts. Ms.
Kleiman quotes Nancy Halpern, Senior
VP of the executive coaching organization
The Strickland Group, who says the number of women in the workplace has altered
expectations for men’s behavior. She adds
that executives are now supposed to be
“kind, caring, and inclusive” as well as successful on paper. We’re a bit skeptical.
Milliken Carpet announced that it recently received three industry accolades.
At IIDEX/NeoCon Canada, the company received a Gold Award for its TractionBack technology, which allows carpet to
be installed without adhesives, and a Silver
Award for its Centro modular carpet collection. TractionBack was also named a Buildings magazine Top Product Pick of 2004
for its benefits in reducing installation time
and costs and improving indoor air quality. Architects ranked Milliken as a leading
manufacturer of both broadloom and modular carpet, earning the company two ACE
awards from Architecture magazine. The
architectural readership of the magazine
cast votes on the basis of design, durability, value and customer service.
The OFDAxml Technology Committee, an industry standards development
organization, held the initial meeting of the
newly formed Services subcommittee last
week in conjunction with the OFDA Dealer Strategies Conference. The purpose
of this new subcommittee is to create an
OFDAxml schema to incorporate the requirements of services related transactions
between the dealer and their trading partners. The committee will initially address
the service areas of most urgency to dealers, including installation and asset management. Companies participating in the
initial meeting included 20-20 Technologies, Asset Systems, BEC Consulting
DataOne, DDMS, Global Group, Herman Miller, The IQ Group, Kimball Office, OFDA, ProjectMatrix, Steelcase,
Team Systems, and The Workplace Alliance.
Mark Duros, Director of Research and
Technology for the OFDA and team leader
for the OFDAxml Technology Committee
remarked, “With the completion of the Order schema and the pending approval of
the Catalog schema, the development of
a services schema is the next logical step
for the committee to take in our long-term
mission of defining and standardizing industry-specific transactions.” For more information, please visit www.ofdaxml.org or
contact Mr. Duros at [email protected]
or 800.542.6672, ext.121.
The Swedish National Testing and
Research Institute published a study in
the Oct. 2004 issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives that found
a “striking” correlation between the plasticizers (phthalates) used in vinyl flooring
products and an increase in asthma and
allergies in children that have been documented over the past 30 years. The study
coincided with the EU’s decision to permanently ban phthalates in toys.
Turner Construction Company has
announced the findings of its green building survey, which was conducted online by
Bayer Consulting in July 2004.The 719 respondents included building owners, developers, architects, engineers and consultants. The survey showed that 93% of
executives working with green buildings
expect to be involved with more green
projects during the next three years. About
30% of those who aren’t currently working with green buildings believe it is “very
or extremely likely” that that they will within
the next three years. Roughly three-quarters of executives at organizations involved
with green buildings reported that these
buildings generated a higher ROI than other buildings. Of executives involved with
green buildings, 91% believed that the
health and well-being of their building occupants is greater, as did 78% of executives not involved with green buildings. The
survey found that the largest obstacles
to widespread adoption of green building
techniques are perceived higher construction costs (by 70% of all executives), a general lack of awareness regarding the ben-
Michelle Davidson
efits of green buildings (by 63% of all executives) and short-term budget horizons
(by 53% of all executives). When asked
to compare a list of benefits generated by
green buildings with those generated by
non-green buildings, a significant percentage of executives said that green buildings
outperform non-green buildings in the following categories: greater health and wellbeing of occupants (86%), higher building value (79%), higher worker productivity (76%), higher ROI (63%), higher asking rents (62%), higher occupancy rates
(52%), and higher retail sales (40%).
The US will have a presence at the
world’s fair planned for Mar. 2005 in Aichi,
Japan, after bowing out of the 2000 expo in
Hannover, Germany, which attracted 181
countries. Since Congress banned federal financing of world’s fairs in 1999 – what
a surprise! – the American pavilion at the
Aichi expo is being paid for with corporate
sponsorships. Bud Hollomon, a Jackson,
MS, architect, is designing the pavilion,
which will feature a 7,000-sq.-ft. VIP suite
by “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s” interior designer Thom Filicia. For more information, visit www.uspavilion.com.
Re-Sited
Michelle Davidson has joined Allsteel as Business Development Manager of its Detroit sales and service area.
Ms. Davidson was previously Director
of Business Development for Knoll and
Cont’d on next page ...
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. . . Cont’d from preceding page
has also held positions with Herman
Miller and a Haworth dealership.
Libby Gillen
Libby Gillen has joined Jack C.
Smith & Assocs. Inc. Ms. Gillen, formerly Design Consultant for Lees Carpet, and Associate Director, Brand Management of Interface, Inc, will be responsible for sales and marketing of product
lines to the A&D community in Chicago.
Anthony Luk has joined Richard Pollack & Associates (POLLACK) of San
Francisco as Job Captain. Mr. Luk’s previous roles included services for Shorenstein and Merriman Curhan Ford & Co.
Claudina Sula has joined Perkins
Eastman/Perkins Eastman Black
as principal. Ms. Sula was previously a
Principal at WZMH Architects, which she
joined in 1985. She is a member of the
Ontario Association of Architects (OAA),
the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), the AIA, and the New York
State Board of Architects. She is also
NCARB-certified.
John D. Swift, VP- Finance and CFO
of Mohawk Industries, Inc., will retire, effective Dec. 31, 2004. Frank H.
Boykin, currently VP and Corporate
Controller of Mohawk, has been working
with Mr. Swift to transition into the CFO
position for some time. He has served
as Corporate Controller since 1993.
Projects
Events
Alan Short of London-based Short
& Associates is designing a four-story,
80,000-sq.-ft. library and academic center for Judson College in Elgin, IL, which
will open in fall 2006. The “green” center
is expected to cost $20 million.
Altoon & Porter, KA Inc., Elkus/
Manfredi, and Field Paoli are among
the firms designing buildings for Victoria
Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.
The $285 million mixed-use project contains 1.3 million sq. ft. of retail and office
space on 147 acres and will eventually
include a public library and performing
arts center.
Amie Gross Architects (AGA) has
completed a new 4,000-sq. ft. treatment
center for Duke Chiropractic in New
York. The center includes exam, massage, and treatment rooms; an exercise
studio; offices; and a waiting area containing a retail section. The offices feature bamboo flooring, low-VOC paints,
and wood products, along with Panelite,
a fiberglass/aluminum composite.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates’
proposed stadium for the New York Jets
on Manhattan’s far West Side has been
severely criticized by New York Times
architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff,
who writes, “It may provide the Jets with
a home, but it will extinguish any hope of
injecting some humanity into the area.”
The 75,000-seat stadium would have
about 50,000 sq. ft. of retail space, an
adjoining park, and a retractable roof
that would allow it to function as an extension of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Mr. Ouroussoff believes its
array of external LED screens would
create too much “visual noise.” He also
warns that a plan to connect the stadium
to the High Line would turn the muchanticipated elevated public garden into
a “mundane people-moving machine”
linking Penn Station, the stadium, and
the overexposed Meatpacking District.
Studio Daniel Libeskind has been
commissioned to design a $100 million
Creative Media Center for the City University of Hong Kong. The nine-story
building will house classrooms and laboratories for the school’s media technology, computer engineering, and information technology departments as well
as a multi-purpose theater, exhibition
space, a cafe, and a restaurant.
Toby Israel, Ph.D., will explain how
you can use “Design Psychology” to
create “authentic, fulfilling places” at
Haworth (101 W. Big Beaver Rd., Ste.
105) in Troy, MI on Thurs., Dec. 2, 2004.
(There will be registration/appetizers
from 5:30-6 pm and the presentation/
book signing will be held from 6-7:30
pm.) Space is limited. To register, contact Sandi Rudenko at 248.526.5005 or
[email protected].
Allsteel is hosting a party on Nov. 10,
2004, at its Los Angeles Resource Center (44 South Flower St., 4th Fl.) from
5:30-8:30 pm. The company invites you
to “play Sum poker with Paul, win Sum
prizes, eat Sum hors d’oeuvres, drink
Sum martinis, and listen to Sum music.”
The A&D Building (150 E. 58th St.)
in New York and T:Living, the newest T:
Style Magazine of The New York Times,
will host an open house called “A Taste of
Living” on Wed., Nov. 10, 2004, from 68 pm. Participating showrooms include
SieMatic Kitchens, Poggenpohl, Varenna Kitchens by Poliform, Snaidero Kitchens + Design, Haifa, Appliance Studio, St. Charles of New York,
American Classic Kitchens/WoodMode, Artistic Tile, Neff Kitchens,
Paris Ceramics, B&B Italia/Arclinea
Kitchens, Bilotta Kitchens, Cavendish Grey Architectural Stonework,
Davis + Warshow - Kitchen & Bath
Center, and Goldman Associates Sub-Zero Wolf. Participating chefs and
writers will include Marcus Samuelsson, Laurent Tourondel, Shea Gallante, Suzanne Slesin, Max McCalman, Tom Colicchio, Michael Lomonaco, Colette Peters, Erica De Mane,
Marco Canora, and Michael Romano.
Special guest Amanda Hesser, editor
of T:Living, and cast members and puppets from the Broadway show “Avenue
Q” will also be on hand. Suggested contribution is $30, to benefit God’s Love
We Deliver, a non-profit organization
that provides meals to people living with
HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses. RSVP to 212.294.8120.
ASID has announced the lineup of keynote speakers for INTERIORS 05: The
ASID Conference on Design from Mar.
17-20, 2005, at the Manchester Grand
Hyatt in San Diego. Janine Benyus, auCont’d on next page ...
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. . . Cont’d from preceding page
thor of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired
by Nature, will present “How Would Nature Design Interiors? Biomimicry and
the Art of Well-Adapted Design,” on Fri.,
Mar. 18, from 9-10 am. Matt Harvey, creative director of Target Home, will provide insight on the Target Corporation’s
philosophy about design in his keynote,
“On Target-Design for All,” on Sat., Mar.
19, from 9 - 10 am.
The ASID Connecticut Chapter and
the IIDA-New England Hartford/New
Haven City Center will hold their annual Holiday Gala, benefiting Covenant to
Care, on Thurs., Dec. 2, 2004, from 6-10
pm at the New Haven Lawn Club in New
Haven, CT. For information on sponsorship opportunities and silent auction donations contact Michelle Ariola, Herbert
S. Newman & Partners, at 203.772.1990
or [email protected].
Benjamin Moore is opening a Color Space gallery for the A&D community in the Henredon showroom at the
New York Design Center (200 Lexington
Ave., 16th fl.) on Nov. 18, 2004. Visitors
throughout the opening day reception (9
am – 5 pm) will have the opportunity to
enter a drawing to win the new Benjamin
Moore Pocket Palette, the new electronic color-matching device from Benjamin
Moore.
Core77 will host a design “openmic” on Tues., Nov. 16, 2004, from 6-9
pm at the Paradise Lounge (969 Commonwealth Ave.) in Boston. Presenters
will include Martin and Michelle Yeeles,
Founders, Bob’s Your Uncle; Meg Rotzel, Founder, Berwick Institute; Robin Chalfin, Fashion Designer; Nabeel
Hyatt, VP Products & Strategy, Ambient Devices; and Adam Simha, furniture designer and founder of MKS Design. The event will feature musical entertainment and complimentary cocktails. RSVP is required at www.core77.
com/offsite/rsvp.asp.
Devices of Design, a colloquium
and roundtable discussion addressing the impact of new media and technology on contemporary architectural theory and practice, will be held on
Thurs., Nov. 18, 2004, from 9 am to 5
pm at the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Paul Desmarais Theatre in Montreal. Admission is free, but registration
is mandatory. RSVP by Nov. 10 to Carole Daneau at 514.939.7000 x1390 or
[email protected]. For more
information, visit www.fondation-lan-
glois.org/devicesofdesign.
(The “New”) Harter opens at the A&D
Building (150 E. 58th St.) in New York
with a reception on Tues., Nov. 16, 2004,
from 6-9 pm. For more information, call
212.688.0044.
The
High-Performance
Green
Building Design Salon series will continue with “Green Buildings and Capital
Markets: Investment Impacts, Practical
Applications and the Development of a
Green Real Estate Investment Trust.”
The event will be held on Thurs., Nov.
11, 2004, from 5:30-7:30 pm at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Pl.)
in New York. The featured speakers will
be Bruce M. Kahn, Financial Consultant, Smith Barney; and Mark Brammer,
Senior Analyst, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. (AIA/CES Learning Units
- 2 HSW 2 offered.) Pre-Registration
required by noon on Nov 10, 2004. Admission is $15 for AIANY, ASHRAE/NY,
EBA-NYS, or USGBC NY members,
$25 for non-members, and $30 at the
door for those not Pre-Registered. For
more information and to register, visit
www.go2buildings.com.
IFMA will hold a 90-min. Audio Seminar, “Keeping the Wolves From Your
Door: Doing a Great FM Job, Measuring
it and Telling the Right People,” on Nov.
18, 2004, at 12 pm CST. The session will
present specific tools and techniques on
how to evaluate, measure and effectively present the worth of your labors as
a facility manager to others in your organization. The cost per site is $99 for
IFMA members and $149 for non-members. The speaker will be Rod Stevens,
IFMA Fellow, CFM, AIA, Architect/Facility Information Manager, Pioneer HiBred International Inc., Johnston, IA.
The seminar is worth 0.15 CEUs or 1
CFM Maintenance Point. For more information, visit www.ifma.org/eseries/
source/Meetings/cMeetingFunctionDetail.cfm?PRODUCT_MAJOR=411AUD1
&FUNCTIONSTARTDISPLAYROW=1.
The Museum of Arts & Design in
New York will present “Anything Goes?
Form and Function in a Fluid World,” its
first annual New Technologies & Materials Conference, from Nov. 12-13, 2004.
Participants will include Holly Hotchner, Director, Museum of Arts & Design; Aaron Betsky, Director, Netherlands Architecture Institute; Zaha
Hadid; Sylvia Lavin, Chair of the Architecture Department at UCLA; Hani
Rashid, partner in Asymptote Archi-
tects; Ross Lovegrove; Yves Behar;
Marek Reichman, Director of Interior
Strategy, Product and Design Process
at Lincoln; Marcel Wanders; Stefan
Sagmeister; Paco Underhill; and Elizabeth Diller, partner in Diller Scofidio Renfro. The first day’s program will
be held at Steelcase (4 Columbus Circle) and the second at the Time Warner
Center Screening Room (10 Columbus
Circle). For more information, visit www.
madmuseum.org.
“Technology Horizon: What is the
Future of Workplace Technology?” is
a panel discussion to be held at Humanscale (11 E. 26th St., 8th fl.) in New York
on Nov. 18, 2004, from 5:30 - 7:30 pm.
The panel will be moderated by Jennifer
Thiele Busch, Editor in Chief, Contract.
Participants will include Joshua Aaron,
President, Business Technology Partners; Ellen Albert, Senior VP, Planning
& Design, MTV Networks; Professor
Terri L. Griffith, Ph.D., Innovation and
Organizational Change Program Director, Center for Science, Technology &
Society, Santa Clara University; and
Michael Kostow, Principal, Kostow
Greenwood Architects. It will address
the impact of future voice, data, communications and related technologies
on work and the evolution of the workplace. RSVP to [email protected]
or 212.353.1383.
FITCO
(718) 628-6000
Serving NYC For
Intermarket Dealers
Delivery
Installation
Warehousing
Commercial Moving
(718) 628.6000
Fax: (718) 628-1516
www.fitcony.com
jim@fitcony.com
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11.8.04
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Job Site
To place ads, send ads information to
[email protected], and billing
information to [email protected]
or Fax 203.547.6063, T: 203.966.5008
For complete classifieds, go to:
www.officeinsight.com
INDEPENDENT SALES REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED BY FASTEST
GROWING SEATING COMPANY!
TEXTILE SALES-FURNITURE MANUFACTURER MARKET- NORTHEAST US
Leading contract Textile Company is seeking an experienced and dynamic sales
professional to develop business with seating manufactures, panel systems manufacturers, and refurbishers and acoustical wall systems accounts throughout the
northeast US. Qualified individuals should possess strong textile knowledge and
a solid track record of success in establishing adopted fabric programs with OEM
accounts.
Excellent compensation package with high income potential for top performer.
Please forward all inquiries and resumes to the following email address and include
“Northeast OEM Account Executive” in the subject line: [email protected]
SitOnIt Seating, the fastest growing
mid-market to contract seating manufacturer, is in search of a performancedriven representative organization to
cover the states of Ohio, Kentucky and
Indiana.
Successful candidates will be well-respected sales professionals with strong
relationships and experience calling
upon contract dealers, A&D firms and
end-users (corporate, healthcare, education) alike. Territory intelligence and
experience with Federal and State/Local government business is a prerequisite for consideration.
If your rep firm has a proven performance track record and the organizational support necessary to be
part of a dynamic growth-oriented
company, please forward your qualifications and/or resume via email to
[email protected] or via fax to
615.338.0325.
S
Field CAD/Space Planner & Sr. Space Planner
KI, a world class manufacturer of innovative and award winning furniture
solutions for business, educational, healthcare and institutional environments, is seeking talented designers! We are currently looking for individuals for the following opportunities:
Field CAD/Space Planner
This position is based out of the New York showroom and you can expect
to travel up to 10% to support our project workload throughout the territory.
Responsibilities will consist of space planning, systems/modular office
furniture, creating and reviewing architectural/schematic drawings using
CAD, and acting as a resource to the NY sales team. Other responsibilities
will include managing ever-changing schedules and project loads.
Sr. Space Planner
This position is based out of the Lorton, VA OEI office and you can expect
to travel up to 30% to support our project workload throughout the territory. Responsibilities will consist of contacting customers, space planning
systems/modular office furniture, creating and reviewing architectural/schematic drawings using CAD, producing bills of materials, and overseeing all
space planning phases from inception to completion. Other responsibilities will include managing ever-changing schedules and project loads, due
dates and contract obligations, and developing new project leads.
© 2004 officesite, inc.
24 East Avenue (#1299)
New Canaan, CT 06840,
www.officeinsight.com,
Bradford J. Powell,
brad@officesite.com
T: 203.966.5008 F: 203.547.6063
Lauren Weinberg
lauren@officesite.com,
T: 212.460.9229
For both positions, candidates are required to have a Interior Design degree, preferably from an accredited university, with 2-5 years experience in
Interior Design/Space Planning. An intermediate knowledge of AutoCAD
(Release 2000 preferred) and Windows based programs (Word and Excel) is
required.
Interested candidates can apply by visiting us at www.ki.com/oi-design ,
and applying on-line. Resumes accepted through November 5, 2004. EOE
officeinsight
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11.8.04
Business/Tech
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Modest Growth Continues:
Sept. BIFMA Orders +3%,
Shipments +6%
Raymond James Report (11.03.04)
Budd Bugatch, Sam Darkatsh, and Chris Thornsberry
September’s market statistics release from the Business
and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA)
gives evidence of a contract office furniture industry that continues in recovery mode, albeit modestly. Despite macroeconomic
and geopolitical uncertainties, order and shipment trends have remained positive and fairly steady through much of the first nine
months of 2004.
September orders increased 3% year-over-year to an estimated $810 million, the second month in a row of year-over-year order
growth following the July decline. Orders also grew sequentially,
advancing 2% from August’s levels. Although the magnitude of
order growth is not large, this month’s year-over-year growth was
up against a +5% comparison, one of the highest rates of growth
seen last year. Trailing 12-month orders also improved in September, growing 4.3% year-over-year to roughly $8.9 billion.
Shipments continued to show consistent growth, as September
shipments increased 6% to an estimated $815 million, the seventh consecutive month of mid- to high single-digit year-over-year
growth. Trailing 12-month shipments grew 3.9% from their November 2003 trough to an estimated $8.8 billion, the highest level
seen since January of 2003, when shipments were still declining
in the midst of the worst downturn to hit the office furniture industry in our memory. However, shipments declined 1% sequentially from August as backlogs increased 2% over the same period.
The current level of backlogs stands at an estimated $1.08 billion,
11% higher year-over-year.
On October 18th, BIFMA released an updated forecast of shipments and orders compiled by Global Insight. The new forecast
provided an update to the prior July 22nd outlook, and the updated
forecast pushed out a more pronounced recovery to mid- to late
2005 rather than earlier in the year, peaking in 2006. The forecast
for 2004, with the benefit of eight months of data (Sept. BIFMA statistics were not yet released), is for shipments to grow 4.8%, down
from the previous forecast of 5.7%.
The 2005 forecast was also revised lower from 11.5% to 8.1%,
with much of the shipment growth expected to occur in the second and third calendar quarters. Although the forecast states office furniture consumption is in recovery mode, the downward revision was driven by slower year-to-date growth, as well as muted
expectations for consumer demand, lower employment growth,
and upward pressure on prices acting as a minor short-term drag
on demand.
The BIFMA contract office furniture market statistics continue to
paint a picture of improving in industry health, though it has not yet
been something to write home about. Positive order and shipment
growth are indeed welcome rather than the horrific declines the industry experienced during the downturn, but we would like to see
stronger growth coming off the bottom. While this will likely hap-
pen, the likelihood for returning to peak shipment levels in the near term
is low. However, given uncertainties with high energy and raw materials prices, corporate profit growth, a hotly contested election, and other
geopolitical concerns, the positive industry growth seen to date is heartening.
 With the backdrop of a positive, though tempered, industry outlook,
we reaffirm our Market Perform ratings on the office furniture manufacturers under coverage. Volatile raw material prices in the midst of the recovery have necessitated selling price hikes from most industry participants, complicating demand patterns further. Moreover, the increases
have not likely fully offset the rapidly escalating raw material costs, compressing margins for many of the producers.
Accordingly, investor concerns over high raw material costs and
the effectiveness of price increases (as well as their potential impact
on demand) have negatively impacted the stocks of Herman Miller
(MLHR/$22.98/Market Perform), HNI Corp. (HNI/$40.68/Market Perform), and Steelcase (SCS/$13.03/Market Perform) in recent weeks.
While we admit becoming more attracted to these issues with the recent price compression, valuation still precludes a more favorable formal recommendation posture now. Herman Miller and HNI Corp. both
trade at forward multiples above their 10-year medians at just under 22x
and 18x, respectively. The price of Steelcase shares already incorporates much of the improvement in fundamentals expected following its
manufacturing rationalization program.
Finally, despite our formal neutral stance for each of these otherwise
quality names, we understand that each issue remains attractive for aggressive investors who are less price-sensitive than we. That prospect
may keep the shares pricey to our discipline for an even more extended
period. Remaining true to our discipline, we continue to wait for a more
attractive entry.

Financial Affairs
CHL Business Interiors of Washington, DC, has acquired selected assets of Lanham, MD-based Columbia Business Furniture (CBF).
CHL CEO Carm Cammaroto made the announcement. Key staff members of Columbia Business Furniture have joined CHL following the acquisition, including CBF President David Posten, who has been named
a vice president of CHL. CBF will close its Lanham facility and consolidate operations at CHL’s Washington, DC headquarters.
“CHL and Columbia Business Furniture have long shared a common
commitment to world-class service and a culture that is driven by our
clients’ needs and priorities,” said Cammaroto. “Now, we are bringing
together two locally-owned and operated businesses with outstanding
teams of service-oriented professionals, to create a true win-win for our
companies and the clients we serve.”
Falcon Products, Inc., has engaged Eisner LLP to serve as its new
independent accountants. The company also announced that Neal R.
Restivo has been elected Corporate VP and CFO. Gene Fleetwood,
who had served as CFO, will return to his previous position of Director of Finance and Administration. Mr. Restivo has more than
20 years of financial experience and has served as CFO of both public and privately held companies. He is affiliated with Tatum Partners and
Cont’d on next page ...
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11.1.04
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. . . Cont’d from preceding page
had previously served as VP of Operations and Finance of a privately
held provider of dispensing and packaging products.
In addition, the Company announced that it is withdrawing its previous
guidance with regard to its revenues and adjusted EBITDA for the fourth
quarter of fiscal 2004 and for fiscal 2005 and does not intend to provide
a revised outlook for either period. The Company expects that revenues
and adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 will be below
the projected amounts provided on Oct. 6, 2004.
Haworth North America has adopted a new benefits program for
2005 that it says offers more options and greater flexibility. Employees
will now have the ability to buy and sell vacation days. Those who have
more vacation time than they need they can sell vacation days and take
the proceeds as taxable compensation or use it to purchase other benefits. The design of the 2005 Cafeteria Plan was based upon input gathered in Six Sigma Voice of the Customer meetings. The plan includes
options such as a consumer-driven health plan, medical opt-out credits,
health care spending accounts, and dependent childcare accounts.
Hillcrest Capital Partners LP (HCP) has made a control investment
in Lakeville, MN-based Rosemount Office Systems LLC (ROS).
ROS’s President and CEO, Barry Mumm; Executive VP and CFO,
Mary Rolf; and founder, former Chairman and majority owner Vern
Heath will all join HCP as minority owners and Directors of ROS. Jeff
Turner, Managing Partner of HCP , will be the new Chairman of ROS.
Inscape Corporation announced that union members ratified the
tentative agreement reached on Nov. 1, 2004, by the company and the
negotiating committee representing a part of the production work force
at the Company’s Holland Landing facility. As a result, the work
stoppage that began on Oct. 25, 2004, ceased and normal manufacturing operations resumed.
Interface has had coverage initiated on it at “Hold” by Legg Mason.
La-Z-Boy Inc. will host its second quarter conference call at 11
am EST on Wed., Nov. 10, 2004. To participate, call 800.374.1298
or visit www.la-z-boy.com/about/ir_confcalls.asp.
Leggett & Platt’s Board of Directors has declared a quarterly
dividend of $0.15 per share, a 7.1% increase over last year’s fourth
quarter dividend of $0.14 per share. Dividend yield is 2.1%, based
on the $0.60 indicated annual dividend and yesterday’s closing
stock price of $28.48. The dividend will be paid on Jan. 14, 2005,
to shareholders of record on Dec. 15, 2004.
Michael A. Dunlap & Associates has released a survey showing that the industry is “on the mend, but still waiting for a significant
recovery to begin,” according to a recent article by Rob Kirkbride
in The Grand Rapids Press. Mr. Dunlap developed an Industry Index Number on a 1-100 scale (worst to best) to quantify how the
industry is performing. The industry index fell slight to 56.16, down
from 57.37 in August. Mr. Kirkbride writes, “The personal outlook
index – the measure of enthusiasm – is still a strong 61.88.”
Mohawk has had coverage initiated on it at “Buy” by Legg Mason. It has also been downgraded from “Outperform” to “Market
Perform” by Morgan Keegan.

Industry Stock Prices
Bush
ChromeC
CompX
Falcon
Hmiller
HNI
Inscape
Interface
Kimball
Knape
La-Z-Boy
Leggett
MityEnt.
Mohawk
OffDepot
Staples
Steelcase
Teknion
UntdStat
USG
Virco
SUM
11.05.04
0.08
12.03
15.25
1.5
25.53
43.40
11.05
8.76
14.31
12.43
13.55
28.89
15.35
87.65
17.15
31.2
13.61
5.65
45.63
28.8
7.55
439.37
9.24.04
0.1
13.0
16.8
2.3
24.8
39.5
12.0
7.9
14.1
13.3
15.1
28.1
16.5
78.8
14.9
29.4
13.3
6.3
42.1
19.2
7.4
414.6
6.25.04
0.3
12.9
15.2
2.9
28
41.7
12.8
8.4
14.3
12.9
18.3
26.7
17.2
74.4
18
29.6
13.5
7
38.7
18
7
417.4
3.26.04
1.7
15.2
13.4
4.2
25.6
36
11.8
7.7
16
13.5
21.1
23.1
18
80.5
18.2
25
13.4
5.3
40.6
16.5
7.3
413.7
12.31.03
4.2
11.3
6.4
4.4
24.3
43.3
13
5.5
15.6
11.9
21
21.6
17.5
70.5
16.7
1.3
14.4
5.8
40.9
16.6
6.4
372.6
9.26.03
4.4
12.4
6.7
5.9
22.6
37
12.6
5.2
14.9
10.9
22.3
22
12.9
72.8
14.3
24.4
11.9
5.4
36.9
17.2
5.7
392.5
6.27.03
3.2
12.5
5.6
4.2
20
30.5
13.1
4.4
15.6
10.5
22.6
20.6
11
56.6
15.1
18.5
11.2
5.8
35.7
20
6.8
352.3
DJIndust
10,387.54 10,047.2
10,371.8
10,213.0
10,453.9
9,313.1
8,989.0
%frYrHi %fr50-DayMA
N/A
-54.55%
-23.13%
-5.75%
-13.4%
-5.48%
N/A
N/A
-14.16%
5.01%
-5.05%
7.93%
-24.83%
-6.77%
-6.31%
9.36%
-18.46%
2.29%
-12.77%
-4.38%
-42.54%
-6.9%
-0.99%
4.48%
-21.6%
-3.68%
-1.89%
9.65%
-12.05%
11.36%
1.63%
5.98%
-7.29%
0.13%
-26.14%
-6.73%
-0.02%
5.54%
-0.62%
43.39%
-5.03%
0.40%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A