IIDA Perspective - Spring 2018 - 28

Deeper Dives
After the surveys have been completed, the office traffic
mapped, and the data analyzed, what's often left is a
dogged drilling-down of a client's testimony. "When
somebody says they want to strengthen their culture,
what do they mean, exactly?" Barnes says. "Do they

REACH OUT

Shortly after winning the contract to design
Edelman's Middle East offices in Abu Dhabi,
Pallavi Dean, founder, Pallavi Dean Interiors,
reached out to office-furniture icon Herman
Miller for help with her pre-design research.
"For larger projects like this, it's nice to
have a sound check from another expert," she
says. "Companies like Herman Miller, Vitra, and
Steelcase have been conducting research on
workplace behavior for decades."
The collaboration makes sense.
"We spend around $25 million every year on
research," says Oliver Baxter, insight program
manager, Herman Miller, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. "We have dedicated R&D teams

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perspective

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across the world that are producing white
papers and research full time."
The size, staff, and budget of research
behemoths like Herman Miller also free
them to experiment with the most cuttingedge methods. For example, Herman Miller
conducted a study group where participants'
stress and trust hormone levels were
monitored via blood samples, which were able
to tie the low-stress and high-trust levels to
specific design hallmarks.
Baxter accompanied Pallavi Dean to
several Edelman focus groups and conducted
interviews using a benchmarking survey that
captures employees' feedback on how well

Photo by: (top left) One Design; Pallavi Dean Interiors

voiced a concern that the perception by clients might be
that this is where their fees were going."
Pallavi Dean makes a point to separate employees from
employers in her focus groups. "We want staff to speak
freely, so we don't put them in the same room with senior
management," she says.

Credit

As part of the
redesign of HGA's
offices, Susanne
Molina, FIIDA, and
her team surveyed
employees to get a
pulse on what was
important to them.

like to dine communally? Do they need more
collaboration spaces? All data needs to be analyzed to
glean design drivers, and these hypotheses need to be
vetted with the client."
As part of the 2017 pre-design work for integrated
architecture, engineering, and master planning firm
HGA's office redesign, Barnes and her team surveyed
employees online. One survey question asked employees
to estimate what percentage of the day they used their
large-scale architectural blueprints. Results showed 50
percent. Wanting to back up that finding, HGA's design
team conducted in-office observations, which showed
usage was closer to 15 percent at any given time.
"Sometimes, in formal research, employees will
answer how they think they should answer versus how
they actually behave," Barnes says. "Surveys aren't always
accurate, but they provide a pulse on what's important
to people: How they see themselves and what they fear
losing-in this case their surface work space."
If HGA had not employed both methodologies, it
would have not only been blind to the reality but to the
psychology behind the discrepancy. Once the facts and
perceptions are ironed out, designers can position their
change strategies around making the client comfortable
with their solutions. In her office's redesign, Barnes
reassured staff that although they might have to share
their large-plan surface with one or two colleagues, the
space would not be eliminated.
The findings from all sources are then delineated into
key findings and recommendations for the client. "We
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Spring 2018
