May 27, 2025 • 20 mins
When the lease on their office space expired, Minneapolis-based engineering firm Loucks sought out a team that could help create their ideal work environment in a new location. With help from BWBR, furniture dealership Henricksen, real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, and some extraordinary luck, Loucks transformed an already promising space into a workplace that supports their culture, enhances well-being, and aligns with today’s technology needs—all while keeping existing furniture out of landfills.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Gerstner (00:00):
This is Side of Design from BWBR, a podcast
discussing all aspects of designwith knowledge leaders from
every part of the industry.
Hello and welcome to Side ofDesign from BWBR.
I'm your host, matt Gerstner.
One of the perpetual challengesour designers face is how to
help clients create environmentsthat support their culture,
enhance well-being and alignwith new ways of working, while
(00:21):
also minimizing waste andincorporating sustainable design
principles.
On this episode, we'll beexploring this intersection of
design and sustainabilitythrough the lens of a workplace
project that found the designsweet spot that helped the
client save money, reduce wasteand meet their space goals.
Joining us today are PrincipalEngineer John Donovan from Lauks
(00:42):
, principal and director oflandscape architecture Nathan
Eckhoff, also of Laux A&D,market manager Akaria Chorley
from Henriksen and seniorarchitect Kelly Heatley from
BWBR.
Thank you all for joining metoday.
It's great to have you here.
Thanks for having us.
Kelly Heatly (00:58):
Thank you.
Matt Gerstner (00:59):
So I'd just like to start.
If we just go around the tabletoday and have everybody
introduce themselves to ourlisteners, nate, why don't you
get us kicked off?
Nate Eckhoff (01:07):
Sure, yeah.
So I'm Nate Ekoff, a landscapearchitect at Laux and one of the
principals there.
Jon Donovan (01:13):
Hi, I'm John Donham .
I'm also a principal civilengineer at Laux.
Ikaria Chorley (01:17):
Hi, I'm Akaria Chorley.
I'm the A&D market manager atHenriksen here in Minneapolis.
Kelly Heatly (01:22):
And I'm Kelly Heatley.
I'm a senior architect withBWBR.
Matt Gerstner (01:26):
Again, thank you all for joining me today.
This is going to be a greatconversation.
So, john and Nate, can you talkus through the specific project
that brought everybody heretogether?
Jon Donovan (01:35):
Sure, I'll jump in.
So our lease in our existingbuilding was up about a year and
a half ago.
So we started to search for anew space or updates to our
existing space about a yearbefore the lease was up.
So we brought on CushmanWakefield to help us with the
lease negotiations finding a newspace.
And then we brought on BWBR,who brought Hendrickson on to
(01:56):
help us with the interior tenantimprovements.
Matt Gerstner (01:58):
So, thinking about the project and the team
you brought together, why don'tyou tell us why you needed a new
space?
What was going on?
Jon Donovan (02:05):
So our existing space was pretty dated and
didn't really serve our needsfor how we worked, kind of after
the COVID period.
So you know the way we work andthe way most of the
architectural engineering firmswork these days are teams
meetings, zoom meetings, and ourspace at the old building
didn't have the breakout rooms,the focus rooms, conference
rooms.
So when we started looking fora space number one we wanted to
(02:30):
look for a building with alittle bit more amenities, met a
space that we could build outand provide those focus rooms,
places where people can go totake calls, to run calls, and
the new space had all thosethings and things that we wanted
to incorporate.
Matt Gerstner (02:45):
Them were pretty easy to do, so thinking about
all the scope, the goals,everything that we just kind of
mentioned there.
What were the constraints, youknow, like budget time, that
kind of thing.
What kind of constraints didyou have around this project?
Nate Eckhoff (02:57):
Started with kind of the location of where we
wanted to be.
Kind of finding the rightbuilding, you know, with within
proximity of where our previousoffice was, was a constraint for
sure, and then obviously kindof budget was a constraint for
us as well.
So, working within thoseconstraints, I think the BWBR
team, kelly and her team, reallyhelped us kind of work through
(03:19):
a lot of different optionswithin the space that we found.
And really actually the officespace that we found at Jet 55
was really nice because it hadbeen recently renovated I think
right before COVID they did arenovation there so brought in a
lot of new furniture for thatactually, and the space was
(03:40):
already pretty open and kind ofavailable for us to do what we
wanted.
So that was nice for surebecause we were able to kind of
be pretty creative with what wasthere.
So, as far as the scope of theproject, we outlined a few
specific goals, I guess, likeJohn just kind of alluded to
(04:01):
there, and one of our biggestones was to kind of tell the
story of who Laux is and what wedo and how we work, kind of a
thing.
So we really needed toincorporate a space that was
flexible and a place where wecould design things together,
because we're multidisciplinary.
We got, you know, civilengineering, landscape
architecture and survey and wereally tackled projects together
(04:23):
and we needed those flexiblespaces and spaces together to do
that.
So that was one of our biggestgoals.
Jon Donovan (04:30):
Yeah.
Nate Eckhoff (04:30):
And the jet 55 space that we found definitely
allowed us to do that Fantastic.
Matt Gerstner (04:37):
Fantastic.
So when we're when we'rethinking about everything that
was there already, what were youable to reuse or repurpose in
the space?
How does that fall into this?
Kelly Heatly (04:51):
From a design side .
I think one of the benefitsthat I see there's kind of your
goal of wanting to work togetherand be collaborative.
One of the other things wetalked about was we just went
through the height of covid.
You've got employees comingback to the office and there's
sort of this tension or battleof like, why am I here?
(05:11):
And so by the space that youguys selected for your office,
one of the benefits was it wasfairly well set up for how you
work.
You.
You had workstations in place.
There was already conferenceareas, private offices.
A lot of the focus got to be oncreating the spaces where you
(05:32):
come together and then also thespaces where people could work
individually, like the focusrooms.
So I think that was huge.
You didn't have to spend a lotof resources on creating the
workstation area or theday-to-day.
You got to focus more on thefun spaces.
Matt Gerstner (05:51):
Yeah, that just seems super convenient and
something that you don't runinto every day when you're
looking at moving into a newspace or even even find finding
any kind of space that's goingto work for a particular company
.
That's fantastic.
Kelly Heatly (06:04):
Yeah, and it was cool.
Their furniture was alreadylike green.
It fit in with laux brandingand okay, I'll just jump in.
Matt Gerstner (06:13):
That doesn't happen.
Nate Eckhoff (06:14):
No, yeah it was definitely a big selling point
of the space that we ended upmoving into, for sure there's
just a lot of little things,that everything lined up clearly
and it was.
Ikaria Chorley (06:25):
It was destined to happen yeah, and I would say
from a furniture perspective, weprobably reused what 90 of the
products that were in there, sothat was really great.
There was not a lot of stuffthat had to go to the landfill,
which is always our end goal.
That's incredible.
So it worked out pretty well.
Matt Gerstner (06:40):
Wow, wow.
Again, I'm hearing a lot ofthings that just kind of lined
up and fell into place.
Nate Eckhoff (06:46):
That's incredible lined up and fell into place.
That's incredible, and one ofour goals, too, was to create a
lay, like we realigned, all thefurniture that was already there
to to work better for us andthen also provide enough
workstations for us to grow intoOkay Over time.
So we were, we did all thatwith a new furniture layout, and
(07:06):
then we still had stuff leftover, Cause I would say that
furniture was untouched.
Ikaria Chorley (07:12):
Yeah, you know, I think and it was funny it was
actually an existing client ofHenrickson.
So when we got brought onto theproject you know you always get
a little nervous touchingexisting furniture, especially
if it's not your brand.
But then when we found out thatit was all steel, we knew right
away that we'd be able toreconfigure it and add a couple
of components to essentiallymake the layout that they were
hoping for.
(07:32):
Wow yeah.
Matt Gerstner (07:34):
Wow, this is a feel good episode.
I like this.
It seems like there's, you know, this is a case where we've got
a lot of constraints thatmaximize creativity, but the
constraints were actually allkind of natural for you.
It like like what you had asconstraints and what you were
moving into really aligned welland made your final result even
(07:55):
better.
Can you kind of just talk alittle bit more about that,
about how you reconfiguredthings, how you were able to use
what was there and pull ittogether?
Ikaria Chorley (08:04):
Yeah.
So we obviously collaboratedwith BWBR on the layouts.
Kelly's team really set us upwith a space plan kind of the
intent of the design and then myteam went in and basically
inventoried what we had.
We had a list of the productsthat were already in the space
because it was an existingclient of ours, which made it a
lot easier to kind of figure outhow we can reconfigure this and
(08:25):
what parts and pieces were allneeded.
So then once we got the spaceplan, we kind of just started
plugging and playing all theparts and reconfigured it.
It can get a little hairy and alittle complicated, but that's
kind of our job and we lovegetting into the details for
that.
Jon Donovan (08:38):
I want to say that reuse of the existing furniture
was a constraint because I thinkit was a plus, probably the
tipping point for us to leasethe space, but it allowed us to
spend the money where we wantedto spend it right Right A work
cafe and a collaboration area.
So it allowed us to do some ofthe things that we really wanted
to do to meet some of the goalsthat we set out to get a new
space for our employees.
Matt Gerstner (08:59):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
I mean, when you're looking ata space and you've got things
that you can reuse, clearly,like you said, it's going to
free up dollars, and those aredollars you might not have
otherwise been able to use inthose spaces.
Kelly, can you talk about howsome of those other spaces came
into play then?
Kelly Heatly (09:14):
Yeah, just maybe painting a picture.
First thing, the site when youwalk in.
We got to reuse the existingreception area.
Like was already mentioned, theworkstations were already
mostly in place.
It was sort of opening somestuff up and creating a little
bit more collaboration area.
There were already privateoffices in place, conference
(09:35):
rooms, and so our focus got tobe a lot more on creating a
couple of focus rooms, forinstances where employees are in
the office and they need totake a call or be on a meeting,
creating some quiet areas andthen also focusing on the work
cafe, which really became thefocal point of where their teams
(09:55):
come together.
Both it could be in aprofessional collaboration type
interaction or more of a socialinteraction.
So it kind of became the placewhere they could tell the story
of who they are and what makesthem special or unique, versus
just the office environment.
So I thought that was super fun, just having an area where the
(10:18):
office could come together andit's sort of the life of their
office.
Nate Eckhoff (10:23):
Yeah, and that was definitely one of our goals too
is to, you know, create a newoffice that reinforces and
really encourages our culture,our culture at Laux.
So definitely that work cafecertainly accomplishes that goal
, uh, really nicely.
So, yeah, spending all themoney, not all the money, most
of the money there really madesense.
Matt Gerstner (10:44):
I mean, it sounds like you've got, like you know,
the new teaming space and thework cafe.
So I'm hearing a culture thatinteracts, culture that enjoys
working together and likes to betogether.
Nate Eckhoff (10:54):
Yeah, we went from a space that had one conference
room, which was not very big,to three larger well, two larger
conference rooms, one smallerconference room, and they're
booked all the time.
So we're certainly gettingtogether.
And then we've got kind of acollaboration zone too that we
utilize and kind of cometogether and design things there
(11:15):
too.
So, yep, it's, it's working theway that we were hoping it's
good to hear.
Matt Gerstner (11:20):
Uh.
So, kelly, what are you seeingand hearing from other clients
regarding sustainability andreuse?
Are we seeing more of that now?
Kelly Heatly (11:27):
I think there's a lot more interest in it.
It's challenging because theretends to be a furniture maybe
uglies out, quote unquote, or itkind of gets dated before it's
not usable anymore.
But I know a lot of dealersthat we work with or
manufacturers are working on howcan we take parts and pieces
(11:47):
and reuse them to buildsomething new.
I think there is a lot morepush to try to reuse furniture
just because it can be expensive, and so if you can reuse
furniture, it often allows youto free up resources for other
areas, and almost every clientwe work with there's some sort
of budget constraint, so it justhelps align dollars with goals
(12:11):
of the project or what thepriorities are, and maybe I can
speak a little bit more to whatyou see manufacturers doing to
help with the sustainabilitypiece.
Yeah, definitely.
Ikaria Chorley (12:22):
And I think too, just to avoid stuff going to
the landfill, Right?
You know that is so importantNot being able to throw away
hundreds and hundreds of panelsthat will just sit there, you
know.
But yeah, from a manufacturerstandpoint.
So Henriksen is partnered withAllsteel.
They are part of the H&I family, so that includes Allsteelhan,
hbf, hearth and Home some ofthose brands that you guys might
(12:44):
recognize and I'm really proudof the initiatives All Steel is
putting in place forsustainability.
They take it very seriously.
So by 2025, they are going tobe moving to 100% recyclable
packaging.
So we have no styrofoam,nothing.
Everything that these piecescome into will all be able to be
(13:07):
recycled, cause I cannot tellyou how many boxes show up when
you are doing a furnitureinstall.
It's quite a bit, so that's areally good push.
Um, they want to be transparentwith all the materials that are
going into their products, sothat will all be listed on their
website.
Again, I think transparency isreally important.
They don't have PFAS in any oftheir products anymore, so yeah
getting rid of a lot of thosechemicals and stuff that are
harmful.
Matt Gerstner (13:27):
That's fantastic to hear.
I'll just say the episode thatI just recorded was all about
PFAS.
Yeah, and what a nightmare.
That is Right.
Ikaria Chorley (13:35):
Well, and especially with Minnesota
banning it and a lot of theproducts here you know, that
kind of sets up a new challengefor us.
So all steel's already ahead ofthe.
Are you guys wondering whatpfas is?
Matt Gerstner (13:46):
yeah, let's, please, let's talk about pfas
yeah it's a perfluoroalkaloid,something, I can't remember the
last letter, um, anyways, it'sbasically a forever chemical,
yeah, and it does not degrade inthe environment.
It doesn't go away and it's thestuff that keeps things water
(14:09):
repellent, stain repellent.
It's in Teflon in your pots andpans, it's in cleaning products
and it's in us.
Whether we choose to accept itor not, it's in us and it's been
linked to all sorts of healthproblems.
Ikaria Chorley (14:26):
Yeah, so yeah, so Allsteel is kind of ahead of
the game.
I think they really are one ofthe leaders in sustainability
for furniture, and I'm reallyproud to say that Hendrickson,
too, is taking a stance onsustainability.
We're in the process offinalizing our corporate
sustainability report.
You know, we're just alwaystrying to push that needle and
be better for the earth.
Matt Gerstner (14:46):
It's so good to hear, so I got to ask how's the
space working, how's everybodyenjoying it, what's the vibe?
Jon Donovan (14:52):
Yeah, I would say we're very happy with the space.
People that go there seem toenjoy it from eight to five and
even outside of those hours, youknow we'll'll.
We have a ping pong table inthere.
Now we have people that willgather after play darts ping
pong, so it's a space peoplewant to be in.
Yeah, um, and we've even hadpeople you know the layout that
hendrickson bwr came up with forthis work cafe almost functions
(15:14):
really well for a kind of afamily type setting.
There's a big farm table inthere, um, and we've had people
use it for personal gatheringstoo, like Thanksgiving,
christmas there, so it'ssomething that we smile at, that
feedback from our employeesthat have used it for things
outside.
It's nice that they want to cometo the office after the 8 to 5
(15:35):
ends their workday ends.
Ikaria Chorley (15:37):
Well, again, I think that says a lot about your
culture, absolutely.
Jon Donovan (15:40):
And it says a lot about the design of that space
too.
I think that says a lot aboutyour culture, yeah, absolutely.
And it says a lot about thedesign of that space too.
Right, like the stuff that thefurniture that these guys came
up to lay out, that BWBR came upwith it just really, it works
really well.
Nate Eckhoff (15:49):
So I would just add too, from a like recruiting
standpoint.
You know that was definitelyone of the goals of our project
and it's nice having a space tobe proud of to invite people in
you know, clients and potentialemployees as well.
So that's been a huge plus andwe've been certainly have been
adding people since we've beenmoved in there now.
(16:12):
So that's wonderful.
That's been a big, helpful tool.
Matt Gerstner (16:15):
It sounds like a successful project all around
for everybody.
Kelly Heatly (16:18):
I would say so.
I was just thinking I wonder ifit makes sense to describe a
little bit better what the workcafe even is.
Yeah, the work cafe is kind ofthe place where you have light
coming in.
I would equate it sort of tohaving an open floor plan for,
like at your house, where thekitchen is kind of the central
(16:41):
hub, so it's their break room.
It's open to the office area.
It's a place where, um, likeconversations can happen, people
kind of cross paths.
It could be an informal meetingarea.
You also have I forgot aboutthe family style kind of table
(17:03):
with a monitor, so it could be ameeting space.
It could be a gathering spaceduring lunch, and then you also
have ping pong table, dartboard.
You have a lot of fun things.
Yeah, well, and I think it'sgreat you have a lot of fun
things yeah.
Ikaria Chorley (17:15):
Well and I think it's great.
You guys give your employeeschoice too.
You know, especially afterCOVID, not everyone sits at a
desk and works anymore, so againthat little tech table that we
have right by the window,someone could go there and take
a 30-minute call if they neededor go and do some heads down
work there.
So I think that really speaksagain to your culture and who
(17:35):
you guys are as a company givingyour employees choice and
thinking about their well-being.
That's really awesome.
Matt Gerstner (17:42):
And the opportunity to come in after
hours and use the space as afamily, as an employee, but not
for employee purposes.
That's incredible.
Nate Eckhoff (17:53):
Yeah, and the value engineering pen kind of
came out during our project acouple of times.
Matt Gerstner (17:59):
Always does right .
Nate Eckhoff (18:00):
Yeah, but we were hoping to include like an
outdoor patio space which wouldbe directly connected to this
work cafe, so that would reallygo back to you know, helping
tell the story of who Laux isand what we do.
We're definitely, you know,designing spaces outdoors and
connecting people to thelandscape.
Maybe in the future it's notquite done yet.
Ikaria Chorley (18:20):
Sounds like we're going to have a Phase 2
project.
Nate Eckhoff (18:23):
It could be a Phase 2 patio someday but the
space is set up perfectly forthat where that patio would be
connected to the work cafe.
That'd be incredible.
Matt Gerstner (18:33):
Is there anything we haven't touched on today?
Jon Donovan (18:35):
I guess I'll say just from an owner's perspective
, we don't we're not in thisrole a lot.
We don't deal with a lot of theTI improvement stuff.
So I will just say, like BWBRHendrickson's team, even Steiner
, who did our generalcontracting, made it so easy for
us to from start to finish.
So I would just say huge props,huge thank yous to all the
(18:55):
people that had a hand in makingour space the way it is right
now.
From our perspective, it wentgreat.
Ikaria Chorley (19:00):
So we love to hear that.
Jon Donovan (19:01):
Absolutely.
Ikaria Chorley (19:02):
I agree.
Kelly Heatly (19:03):
Also, you guys were not a typical client.
Like you understand the designprocess too, so it was a lot of
fun collaborating and like wespeak the same language, we deal
with the same things and it wasa lot of fun we have four or
five, six people in our officemaking the decisions.
Jon Donovan (19:20):
Nate and I were kind of fronting the project or
leading the project.
So when we talk about somethinglike anything, we go oh, that's
a great idea.
But we got to take it back toour board and walk through this
and right um and just the thecollaboration back and forth on
these spaces.
You had a lot of cooks in thekitchen and the spaces tweak and
pull and push and again, wecan't say enough about how it
(19:44):
turned out.
It's so great.
Matt Gerstner (19:46):
Well, that's fantastic and, honestly, I think
it's a great place to finish upthe episode.
So thank you all for joining metoday.
This has been a greatconversation.
It's fun to see when goodpeople come together and an
incredible project comes outsuccessfully.
Thank you all.
Ikaria Chorley (20:01):
Thank you, thank you.
Matt Gerstner (20:02):
This has been Side of Design from BWBR,
brought to you without any paidadvertisements or commercials.
If you found value in whatyou've heard today, give us a
like, leave us a comment or,better yet, share us with your
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You can also reach out to us ifyou'd like to share an idea for
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Email us at sideofdesign atbwbrcom.
(20:29):
Bye.
This is Side of Design from BWBR, a podcast
discussing all aspects of designwith knowledge leaders from
every part of the industry.
Hello and welcome to Side ofDesign from BWBR.
I'm your host, matt Gerstner.
One of the perpetual challengesour designers face is how to
help clients create environmentsthat support their culture,
enhance well-being and alignwith new ways of working, while
(00:21):
also minimizing waste andincorporating sustainable design
principles.
On this episode, we'll beexploring this intersection of
design and sustainabilitythrough the lens of a workplace
project that found the designsweet spot that helped the
client save money, reduce wasteand meet their space goals.
Joining us today are PrincipalEngineer John Donovan from Lauks
(00:42):
, principal and director oflandscape architecture Nathan
Eckhoff, also of Laux A&D,market manager Akaria Chorley
from Henriksen and seniorarchitect Kelly Heatley from
BWBR.
Thank you all for joining metoday.
It's great to have you here.
Thanks for having us.
Kelly Heatly (00:58):
Thank you.
Matt Gerstner (00:59):
So I'd just like to start.
If we just go around the tabletoday and have everybody
introduce themselves to ourlisteners, nate, why don't you
get us kicked off?
Nate Eckhoff (01:07):
Sure, yeah.
So I'm Nate Ekoff, a landscapearchitect at Laux and one of the
principals there.
Jon Donovan (01:13):
Hi, I'm John Donham .
I'm also a principal civilengineer at Laux.
Ikaria Chorley (01:17):
Hi, I'm Akaria Chorley.
I'm the A&D market manager atHenriksen here in Minneapolis.
Kelly Heatly (01:22):
And I'm Kelly Heatley.
I'm a senior architect withBWBR.
Matt Gerstner (01:26):
Again, thank you all for joining me today.
This is going to be a greatconversation.
So, john and Nate, can you talkus through the specific project
that brought everybody heretogether?
Jon Donovan (01:35):
Sure, I'll jump in.
So our lease in our existingbuilding was up about a year and
a half ago.
So we started to search for anew space or updates to our
existing space about a yearbefore the lease was up.
So we brought on CushmanWakefield to help us with the
lease negotiations finding a newspace.
And then we brought on BWBR,who brought Hendrickson on to
(01:56):
help us with the interior tenantimprovements.
Matt Gerstner (01:58):
So, thinking about the project and the team
you brought together, why don'tyou tell us why you needed a new
space?
What was going on?
Jon Donovan (02:05):
So our existing space was pretty dated and
didn't really serve our needsfor how we worked, kind of after
the COVID period.
So you know the way we work andthe way most of the
architectural engineering firmswork these days are teams
meetings, zoom meetings, and ourspace at the old building
didn't have the breakout rooms,the focus rooms, conference
rooms.
So when we started looking fora space number one we wanted to
(02:30):
look for a building with alittle bit more amenities, met a
space that we could build outand provide those focus rooms,
places where people can go totake calls, to run calls, and
the new space had all thosethings and things that we wanted
to incorporate.
Matt Gerstner (02:45):
Them were pretty easy to do, so thinking about
all the scope, the goals,everything that we just kind of
mentioned there.
What were the constraints, youknow, like budget time, that
kind of thing.
What kind of constraints didyou have around this project?
Nate Eckhoff (02:57):
Started with kind of the location of where we
wanted to be.
Kind of finding the rightbuilding, you know, with within
proximity of where our previousoffice was, was a constraint for
sure, and then obviously kindof budget was a constraint for
us as well.
So, working within thoseconstraints, I think the BWBR
team, kelly and her team, reallyhelped us kind of work through
(03:19):
a lot of different optionswithin the space that we found.
And really actually the officespace that we found at Jet 55
was really nice because it hadbeen recently renovated I think
right before COVID they did arenovation there so brought in a
lot of new furniture for thatactually, and the space was
(03:40):
already pretty open and kind ofavailable for us to do what we
wanted.
So that was nice for surebecause we were able to kind of
be pretty creative with what wasthere.
So, as far as the scope of theproject, we outlined a few
specific goals, I guess, likeJohn just kind of alluded to
(04:01):
there, and one of our biggestones was to kind of tell the
story of who Laux is and what wedo and how we work, kind of a
thing.
So we really needed toincorporate a space that was
flexible and a place where wecould design things together,
because we're multidisciplinary.
We got, you know, civilengineering, landscape
architecture and survey and wereally tackled projects together
(04:23):
and we needed those flexiblespaces and spaces together to do
that.
So that was one of our biggestgoals.
Jon Donovan (04:30):
Yeah.
Nate Eckhoff (04:30):
And the jet 55 space that we found definitely
allowed us to do that Fantastic.
Matt Gerstner (04:37):
Fantastic.
So when we're when we'rethinking about everything that
was there already, what were youable to reuse or repurpose in
the space?
How does that fall into this?
Kelly Heatly (04:51):
From a design side .
I think one of the benefitsthat I see there's kind of your
goal of wanting to work togetherand be collaborative.
One of the other things wetalked about was we just went
through the height of covid.
You've got employees comingback to the office and there's
sort of this tension or battleof like, why am I here?
(05:11):
And so by the space that youguys selected for your office,
one of the benefits was it wasfairly well set up for how you
work.
You.
You had workstations in place.
There was already conferenceareas, private offices.
A lot of the focus got to be oncreating the spaces where you
(05:32):
come together and then also thespaces where people could work
individually, like the focusrooms.
So I think that was huge.
You didn't have to spend a lotof resources on creating the
workstation area or theday-to-day.
You got to focus more on thefun spaces.
Matt Gerstner (05:51):
Yeah, that just seems super convenient and
something that you don't runinto every day when you're
looking at moving into a newspace or even even find finding
any kind of space that's goingto work for a particular company
.
That's fantastic.
Kelly Heatly (06:04):
Yeah, and it was cool.
Their furniture was alreadylike green.
It fit in with laux brandingand okay, I'll just jump in.
Matt Gerstner (06:13):
That doesn't happen.
Nate Eckhoff (06:14):
No, yeah it was definitely a big selling point
of the space that we ended upmoving into, for sure there's
just a lot of little things,that everything lined up clearly
and it was.
Ikaria Chorley (06:25):
It was destined to happen yeah, and I would say
from a furniture perspective, weprobably reused what 90 of the
products that were in there, sothat was really great.
There was not a lot of stuffthat had to go to the landfill,
which is always our end goal.
That's incredible.
So it worked out pretty well.
Matt Gerstner (06:40):
Wow, wow.
Again, I'm hearing a lot ofthings that just kind of lined
up and fell into place.
Nate Eckhoff (06:46):
That's incredible lined up and fell into place.
That's incredible, and one ofour goals, too, was to create a
lay, like we realigned, all thefurniture that was already there
to to work better for us andthen also provide enough
workstations for us to grow intoOkay Over time.
So we were, we did all thatwith a new furniture layout, and
(07:06):
then we still had stuff leftover, Cause I would say that
furniture was untouched.
Ikaria Chorley (07:12):
Yeah, you know, I think and it was funny it was
actually an existing client ofHenrickson.
So when we got brought onto theproject you know you always get
a little nervous touchingexisting furniture, especially
if it's not your brand.
But then when we found out thatit was all steel, we knew right
away that we'd be able toreconfigure it and add a couple
of components to essentiallymake the layout that they were
hoping for.
(07:32):
Wow yeah.
Matt Gerstner (07:34):
Wow, this is a feel good episode.
I like this.
It seems like there's, you know, this is a case where we've got
a lot of constraints thatmaximize creativity, but the
constraints were actually allkind of natural for you.
It like like what you had asconstraints and what you were
moving into really aligned welland made your final result even
(07:55):
better.
Can you kind of just talk alittle bit more about that,
about how you reconfiguredthings, how you were able to use
what was there and pull ittogether?
Ikaria Chorley (08:04):
Yeah.
So we obviously collaboratedwith BWBR on the layouts.
Kelly's team really set us upwith a space plan kind of the
intent of the design and then myteam went in and basically
inventoried what we had.
We had a list of the productsthat were already in the space
because it was an existingclient of ours, which made it a
lot easier to kind of figure outhow we can reconfigure this and
(08:25):
what parts and pieces were allneeded.
So then once we got the spaceplan, we kind of just started
plugging and playing all theparts and reconfigured it.
It can get a little hairy and alittle complicated, but that's
kind of our job and we lovegetting into the details for
that.
Jon Donovan (08:38):
I want to say that reuse of the existing furniture
was a constraint because I thinkit was a plus, probably the
tipping point for us to leasethe space, but it allowed us to
spend the money where we wantedto spend it right Right A work
cafe and a collaboration area.
So it allowed us to do some ofthe things that we really wanted
to do to meet some of the goalsthat we set out to get a new
space for our employees.
Matt Gerstner (08:59):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
I mean, when you're looking ata space and you've got things
that you can reuse, clearly,like you said, it's going to
free up dollars, and those aredollars you might not have
otherwise been able to use inthose spaces.
Kelly, can you talk about howsome of those other spaces came
into play then?
Kelly Heatly (09:14):
Yeah, just maybe painting a picture.
First thing, the site when youwalk in.
We got to reuse the existingreception area.
Like was already mentioned, theworkstations were already
mostly in place.
It was sort of opening somestuff up and creating a little
bit more collaboration area.
There were already privateoffices in place, conference
(09:35):
rooms, and so our focus got tobe a lot more on creating a
couple of focus rooms, forinstances where employees are in
the office and they need totake a call or be on a meeting,
creating some quiet areas andthen also focusing on the work
cafe, which really became thefocal point of where their teams
(09:55):
come together.
Both it could be in aprofessional collaboration type
interaction or more of a socialinteraction.
So it kind of became the placewhere they could tell the story
of who they are and what makesthem special or unique, versus
just the office environment.
So I thought that was super fun, just having an area where the
(10:18):
office could come together andit's sort of the life of their
office.
Nate Eckhoff (10:23):
Yeah, and that was definitely one of our goals too
is to, you know, create a newoffice that reinforces and
really encourages our culture,our culture at Laux.
So definitely that work cafecertainly accomplishes that goal
, uh, really nicely.
So, yeah, spending all themoney, not all the money, most
of the money there really madesense.
Matt Gerstner (10:44):
I mean, it sounds like you've got, like you know,
the new teaming space and thework cafe.
So I'm hearing a culture thatinteracts, culture that enjoys
working together and likes to betogether.
Nate Eckhoff (10:54):
Yeah, we went from a space that had one conference
room, which was not very big,to three larger well, two larger
conference rooms, one smallerconference room, and they're
booked all the time.
So we're certainly gettingtogether.
And then we've got kind of acollaboration zone too that we
utilize and kind of cometogether and design things there
(11:15):
too.
So, yep, it's, it's working theway that we were hoping it's
good to hear.
Matt Gerstner (11:20):
Uh.
So, kelly, what are you seeingand hearing from other clients
regarding sustainability andreuse?
Are we seeing more of that now?
Kelly Heatly (11:27):
I think there's a lot more interest in it.
It's challenging because theretends to be a furniture maybe
uglies out, quote unquote, or itkind of gets dated before it's
not usable anymore.
But I know a lot of dealersthat we work with or
manufacturers are working on howcan we take parts and pieces
(11:47):
and reuse them to buildsomething new.
I think there is a lot morepush to try to reuse furniture
just because it can be expensive, and so if you can reuse
furniture, it often allows youto free up resources for other
areas, and almost every clientwe work with there's some sort
of budget constraint, so it justhelps align dollars with goals
(12:11):
of the project or what thepriorities are, and maybe I can
speak a little bit more to whatyou see manufacturers doing to
help with the sustainabilitypiece.
Yeah, definitely.
Ikaria Chorley (12:22):
And I think too, just to avoid stuff going to
the landfill, Right?
You know that is so importantNot being able to throw away
hundreds and hundreds of panelsthat will just sit there, you
know.
But yeah, from a manufacturerstandpoint.
So Henriksen is partnered withAllsteel.
They are part of the H&I family, so that includes Allsteelhan,
hbf, hearth and Home some ofthose brands that you guys might
(12:44):
recognize and I'm really proudof the initiatives All Steel is
putting in place forsustainability.
They take it very seriously.
So by 2025, they are going tobe moving to 100% recyclable
packaging.
So we have no styrofoam,nothing.
Everything that these piecescome into will all be able to be
(13:07):
recycled, cause I cannot tellyou how many boxes show up when
you are doing a furnitureinstall.
It's quite a bit, so that's areally good push.
Um, they want to be transparentwith all the materials that are
going into their products, sothat will all be listed on their
website.
Again, I think transparency isreally important.
They don't have PFAS in any oftheir products anymore, so yeah
getting rid of a lot of thosechemicals and stuff that are
harmful.
Matt Gerstner (13:27):
That's fantastic to hear.
I'll just say the episode thatI just recorded was all about
PFAS.
Yeah, and what a nightmare.
That is Right.
Ikaria Chorley (13:35):
Well, and especially with Minnesota
banning it and a lot of theproducts here you know, that
kind of sets up a new challengefor us.
So all steel's already ahead ofthe.
Are you guys wondering whatpfas is?
Matt Gerstner (13:46):
yeah, let's, please, let's talk about pfas
yeah it's a perfluoroalkaloid,something, I can't remember the
last letter, um, anyways, it'sbasically a forever chemical,
yeah, and it does not degrade inthe environment.
It doesn't go away and it's thestuff that keeps things water
(14:09):
repellent, stain repellent.
It's in Teflon in your pots andpans, it's in cleaning products
and it's in us.
Whether we choose to accept itor not, it's in us and it's been
linked to all sorts of healthproblems.
Ikaria Chorley (14:26):
Yeah, so yeah, so Allsteel is kind of ahead of
the game.
I think they really are one ofthe leaders in sustainability
for furniture, and I'm reallyproud to say that Hendrickson,
too, is taking a stance onsustainability.
We're in the process offinalizing our corporate
sustainability report.
You know, we're just alwaystrying to push that needle and
be better for the earth.
Matt Gerstner (14:46):
It's so good to hear, so I got to ask how's the
space working, how's everybodyenjoying it, what's the vibe?
Jon Donovan (14:52):
Yeah, I would say we're very happy with the space.
People that go there seem toenjoy it from eight to five and
even outside of those hours, youknow we'll'll.
We have a ping pong table inthere.
Now we have people that willgather after play darts ping
pong, so it's a space peoplewant to be in.
Yeah, um, and we've even hadpeople you know the layout that
hendrickson bwr came up with forthis work cafe almost functions
(15:14):
really well for a kind of afamily type setting.
There's a big farm table inthere, um, and we've had people
use it for personal gatheringstoo, like Thanksgiving,
christmas there, so it'ssomething that we smile at, that
feedback from our employeesthat have used it for things
outside.
It's nice that they want to cometo the office after the 8 to 5
(15:35):
ends their workday ends.
Ikaria Chorley (15:37):
Well, again, I think that says a lot about your
culture, absolutely.
Jon Donovan (15:40):
And it says a lot about the design of that space
too.
I think that says a lot aboutyour culture, yeah, absolutely.
And it says a lot about thedesign of that space too.
Right, like the stuff that thefurniture that these guys came
up to lay out, that BWBR came upwith it just really, it works
really well.
Nate Eckhoff (15:49):
So I would just add too, from a like recruiting
standpoint.
You know that was definitelyone of the goals of our project
and it's nice having a space tobe proud of to invite people in
you know, clients and potentialemployees as well.
So that's been a huge plus andwe've been certainly have been
adding people since we've beenmoved in there now.
(16:12):
So that's wonderful.
That's been a big, helpful tool.
Matt Gerstner (16:15):
It sounds like a successful project all around
for everybody.
Kelly Heatly (16:18):
I would say so.
I was just thinking I wonder ifit makes sense to describe a
little bit better what the workcafe even is.
Yeah, the work cafe is kind ofthe place where you have light
coming in.
I would equate it sort of tohaving an open floor plan for,
like at your house, where thekitchen is kind of the central
(16:41):
hub, so it's their break room.
It's open to the office area.
It's a place where, um, likeconversations can happen, people
kind of cross paths.
It could be an informal meetingarea.
You also have I forgot aboutthe family style kind of table
(17:03):
with a monitor, so it could be ameeting space.
It could be a gathering spaceduring lunch, and then you also
have ping pong table, dartboard.
You have a lot of fun things.
Yeah, well, and I think it'sgreat you have a lot of fun
things yeah.
Ikaria Chorley (17:15):
Well and I think it's great.
You guys give your employeeschoice too.
You know, especially afterCOVID, not everyone sits at a
desk and works anymore, so againthat little tech table that we
have right by the window,someone could go there and take
a 30-minute call if they neededor go and do some heads down
work there.
So I think that really speaksagain to your culture and who
(17:35):
you guys are as a company givingyour employees choice and
thinking about their well-being.
That's really awesome.
Matt Gerstner (17:42):
And the opportunity to come in after
hours and use the space as afamily, as an employee, but not
for employee purposes.
That's incredible.
Nate Eckhoff (17:53):
Yeah, and the value engineering pen kind of
came out during our project acouple of times.
Matt Gerstner (17:59):
Always does right .
Nate Eckhoff (18:00):
Yeah, but we were hoping to include like an
outdoor patio space which wouldbe directly connected to this
work cafe, so that would reallygo back to you know, helping
tell the story of who Laux isand what we do.
We're definitely, you know,designing spaces outdoors and
connecting people to thelandscape.
Maybe in the future it's notquite done yet.
Ikaria Chorley (18:20):
Sounds like we're going to have a Phase 2
project.
Nate Eckhoff (18:23):
It could be a Phase 2 patio someday but the
space is set up perfectly forthat where that patio would be
connected to the work cafe.
That'd be incredible.
Matt Gerstner (18:33):
Is there anything we haven't touched on today?
Jon Donovan (18:35):
I guess I'll say just from an owner's perspective
, we don't we're not in thisrole a lot.
We don't deal with a lot of theTI improvement stuff.
So I will just say, like BWBRHendrickson's team, even Steiner
, who did our generalcontracting, made it so easy for
us to from start to finish.
So I would just say huge props,huge thank yous to all the
(18:55):
people that had a hand in makingour space the way it is right
now.
From our perspective, it wentgreat.
Ikaria Chorley (19:00):
So we love to hear that.
Jon Donovan (19:01):
Absolutely.
Ikaria Chorley (19:02):
I agree.
Kelly Heatly (19:03):
Also, you guys were not a typical client.
Like you understand the designprocess too, so it was a lot of
fun collaborating and like wespeak the same language, we deal
with the same things and it wasa lot of fun we have four or
five, six people in our officemaking the decisions.
Jon Donovan (19:20):
Nate and I were kind of fronting the project or
leading the project.
So when we talk about somethinglike anything, we go oh, that's
a great idea.
But we got to take it back toour board and walk through this
and right um and just the thecollaboration back and forth on
these spaces.
You had a lot of cooks in thekitchen and the spaces tweak and
pull and push and again, wecan't say enough about how it
(19:44):
turned out.
It's so great.
Matt Gerstner (19:46):
Well, that's fantastic and, honestly, I think
it's a great place to finish upthe episode.
So thank you all for joining metoday.
This has been a greatconversation.
It's fun to see when goodpeople come together and an
incredible project comes outsuccessfully.
Thank you all.
Ikaria Chorley (20:01):
Thank you, thank you.
Matt Gerstner (20:02):
This has been Side of Design from BWBR,
brought to you without any paidadvertisements or commercials.
If you found value in whatyou've heard today, give us a
like, leave us a comment or,better yet, share us with your
network.
You can also reach out to us ifyou'd like to share an idea for
a show or start a discussion.
Email us at sideofdesign atbwbrcom.
(20:29):
Bye.
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