Contract - July/August 2016 - 20

PHOTO: MEG WALTON

EDITORIAL

Celebrating a Humane Collection
for the Healthy Workplace
As it is summer, when many take some time off post-NeoCon, this
is a good moment to both look back at that annual confab in Chicago
and to reflect on where we are as a design profession and industry.
This issue will help you do just that.
We offer a bit of a microcosm of the best of all scales, from the
products that won Best of NeoCon (page 45) to four unique featured
interiors that are each on a different continent (page 103) to the
winning projects of our Inspirations Awards sponsored by Tandus
Centiva (page 134). And Leigh Stringer, a workplace expert at the firm
EYP in Washington, D.C., authored an important article exclusively
for Contract on the design of healthy workplaces (page 130) based
on her recently released book on the subject.
Stringer cites evidence demonstrating that business success
is intrinsically tied to employee health and well-being, and she offers
examples of how the built environment can play a more meaningful
role in that equation. She suggests that the most forward-thinking
companies that incorporate health and well-being considerations
do so by regularizing flexibility and choice into the work environment.
That point is of utmost importance for today's designers of interiors
as well as the designers and manufacturers of furnishings.
With that in mind, I was very pleased with the Best of NeoCon
jury's selection of the Zones collection for Teknion as the 2016 Best
of Competition winner. Designed by Tom Lloyd and Luke Pearson
of London-based PearsonLloyd in collaboration with Teknion, Zones
absolutely stood out from the NeoCon introductions this year. Multiple
companies at NeoCon introduced furnishings for a more casual, open
office influenced by hospitality. But PearsonLloyd's design for Zones
is bold, ambitious, and, in some ways, unexpected. Sophisticated in
overall conception, Zones can change perceptions about the approach
to furnishing today's workplace.
As a collection that directly addresses the needs for flexibility
and choice that Stringer writes about, Zones is inspired in concept
and craft. Read our interview with Pearson and Lloyd (page 48) as they
explain their design process and the broader concepts that went into
creating Zones. Perhaps the most important starting point for Pearson
and Lloyd was their premise that, as they say in our interview, "there
is no single industry view of what is the best workplace." Accepting that
premise allowed PearsonLloyd the creative freedom to conceive Zones.
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Teknion and PearsonLloyd then boldly developed a line
of furniture that is intended for a designer and their client to flexibly
arrange, with a wide variety of seating options, table configurations
and heights, enclosures, and spaces for more private work or
discussion. Yes, workplace enclosures are needed, but the form
and look is no longer a corporate cubicle or awkward pod. They
also created Zones with the understanding that, while privacy
is a concern, furniture is just one element in a workplace interior
solution for solitude and acoustical control.
Teknion and PearsonLloyd are also to be commended for
the collection's beautiful craft, with beechwood and straightforward
materials and joinery. They kept the design language simple and
refined, without needless bells and whistles. In the words of Pearson
and Lloyd, the design is based upon "a limited number of themes-
including materiality, color, form, and construction. The resulting visual
cohesion allows different parts of the collection to be curated together
in a seamless manner, without having to create a single visual aesthetic."
The collection is truly humane in its aesthetic, and will contribute
to any healthy workplace.
Enter the Interiors Awards
This is also the time of year to remind you to enter your best recent
projects in the 38th annual Interiors Awards, presented by Contract.
The Interiors Awards honor outstanding commercial interiors worldwide,
and the entry deadline is September 15. Entries are accepted in 14
professional categories as well as a student category. Winners will
be published in our January/February issue, and honored in front
of more than 600 people at the Interiors Awards Breakfast. Read about
the five Interiors Awards jurors on page 28, and visit contractdesign.
com/interiorsawards to enter. Good luck!
Sincerely,
John Czarnecki, Assoc. AIA, Hon. IIDA
Editor in Chief
Visit contractdesign.com/editorial to read all of Editor in Chief
John Czarnecki's editorials
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