1. Send a Thank You Note

2. Know the Names

3. Observe the 'Elevator Rule'

4. Focus on the Face, Not the Screen

5. Don't Judge

Video Transcript



00:12 Christine Lagorio: So Mark we have been working on this world's coolest office package for two years now I think it's time to sit back and reflect. What actually is a cool office?



00:22 Marc Kushner: A cool office. Well you know I work, I'm an architect, I work in an office, and I run an archaizer, and I think fundamentally a cool office is one that functions really well as an office. And then I think the potential for working with an architect, working with a designer and making it really cool is to kind of pump that up. And find the opportunities to make it a special place; a place that makes people work better together, that makes people excited to come to work. I think that's what really makes it cool.



00:51 Lagorio: That's great. We all work in offices but a lot of startups and small companies don't necessarily have the budget for an architect or even a designer to consult. What are some little things they can do to keep the space in mind and make the space that they have available to them work well for them?



01:09 Kushner: Yeah I think... I think there are opportunities in the everyday kind of office experience. So we all need conference rooms, usually need a conference room, and a conference room comes with things like a table, and lights. And these can be really generic obvious solutions or you can take the time and challenge yourself and maybe your staff and actually turn it into a kind of experience to think about how that can become something else. So we saw some tables that were made out of old cast iron bath tubs right with a slab of glass on top which was a cute way to kind of up the ante on what a conference table could be. But then even the way that lighting is hung that it doesn't have to be a geometric patterns that you can actually start express moments within the room that are maybe more important and find those little ways in to question the status quo of design.



02:05 Lagorio: Right. And you're talking about some of the entries that we just saw because we were just judging this year's entries. What are some of themes that emerged from this year's entries, anything that you saw different from last year that may be indicative of where office design is going?



02:20 Kushner: We saw... Well, first of all they were all fantastic, and it was really excellent to see the breath of entries. We saw some interesting things. We saw, a lot of brands were bringing in the products that they make into the actual office design. So like Wilson who makes tennis products have entire walls made of tennis ball material, kind of unraveled tennis balls, so that the actual you know stuff that people are selling everyday on the phone and working with and designing shows up in the, in the everyday office experience, which I think is really, I think that's really successful. Adidas also did something really cool where, a lot of sports companies make obviously are... Well, they make really cool stuff. But Adidas did this really neat thing where they took inspiration from kind of in the locker room and the idea of how you store things in a office. So instead of it being traditional file cabinets there are sort of lockers for everyone that have a roll up capabilities and can be moved all over the office. So I think, you know bringing in the stuff that motivates the company in the first place into the design is a great cue.



03:30 Lagorio: That's great. Was there... I guess was there anything else that you loved about this year's entries? Anything else that really stood out or anything that you think is kind of showing a changing pace in or face of office design?



03:44 Kushner: Yeah we saw, we saw a lot of use of, I'll just say the natural in the most general way. But I think it's obviously part of a general trend worldwide, and what's nice is that what's been happening in Europe is now moving to the United States. The realization that natural lighting is not just a good ecologically move but it's also you know a happy factor. And people are, are more productive and have a better experience when there closer to a window. So bringing nature in, sometimes it's not efficient or effective to move everyone in the office to the window, but finding ways to bring nature into the office, as far as you know cutting holes in buildings or approximating nature; we saw some artificial landscapes which were pretty, pretty fun. And I think that's a really nice trend that's going on in the office space.



04:34 Lagorio: That's great. Thanks so much Mark.



04:36 Kushner: Thank you and thanks to Inc.