I have 12 years of experience as an interior designer. In this case study, I outline my design process for interior spaces.

The Baird office in Dayton, OH is the third to adopt the new brand interiors standard I developed with my team. I worked on Baird corporate office projects for over two years and collaborated on many Baird projects nationally.

Process

EUA Mission Statement

We believe great architecture is about elevating people’s potential.

Existing Spaces

Many of the interiors of Baird’s branch offices reflected the weight of history and associates were hesitant about change fearing a disruption in the stability of the design of their space. My team hoped to ease the transition by highlighting the firm’s core values as central to the design process.

In the Baird office layout, associates occupy private offices along the exterior window line of the building with support staff in workstations towards the core. In the old branch offices solid doors with thin interior windows, called sidelights, meant that natural light and views did not filter into the main workspace. Support spaces were often also tucked in close to the core as well, shutting the spaces off from the rest of the office. These assets, like the breakroom, morphed into storage areas because they were often unused and closed off. Clients are often walked from the lobby, through the main office space, and into a private office for meetings. Our design proposition hinged on all spaces reflecting the Baird brand values and supporting those values with both clients and employees.

Engaged Workplace Drivers

I developed the new interior standards for Baird working closely with the lead interior designer and our project manager. We utilized the EUA outline of the Engaged Workplace to structure the goals of the interior standards package within the Baird brand values. This package was then presented to the Baird real estate team for approval as a foundation for our design.

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REFLECT CULTURE

The main objective of the Baird workspace refresh is to showcase a culture of collaboration and transparency. This is achieved through an open concept central office space, a flexible work café, all-glass offices fronts, and, in turn, increased external views and daylight for all employees.

RE-ENERGIZED WORKPLACE

By keeping a keen eye on departmental adjacencies we increase the opportunities for chance encounters among coworkers. Employees will have access to more open work/copy rooms and reimagined breakrooms as work cafés which offer multiple settings within the workplace to choose where to work and how they engage with one another throughout the day.

PROVIDING CHOICE

Knowledge sharing happens more fluidly if you provide choices of where to meet. The Baird workspace has meeting space options of multiple sizes and accommodates many different kinds of collaboration both internally and with clients. By providing a variety of technology solutions, users are given the freedom to meet where they feel most comfortable.

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SIMPLE TOOLS

The new Baird space is infused with areas for knowledge sharing to occur, either with or without the use of technology. Simple tools like central glass marker boards aid in information sharing across the office.

PURPOSEFUL PROXIMITY

By locating the work café immediately adjacent to conference rooms and any potential outdoor space, staff can let conversations and ideas from meetings overflow in an appropriate, relaxed and open environment. This space is central to the office’s core, providing an amenity space that is always accessible.

CONNECTED EMPLOYEES

Connection is key to culture. The café space features the best view in the office and serves as a multi-functional gathering and workspace, providing another option for employees to connect throughout the day.

COLLABORATIVE INTERSECTIONS

Key intersection points, such as elevators, lobbies, or staircases, are excellent places for collaboration hubs. These areas increase the chance for accidental run-ins, fostering innovation across departments and deeper connections with clients.

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DAYLIGHT FOR ALL

The Baird workspace fosters a people-focused culture, incorporates several sustainable features to address employee well-being. Several aspects of Biophilic design, including unobstructed views to nature and sit/stand workstations, aid in employee choice and satisfaction. Full glass office fronts provide access to daylight throughout the office, while adjustable lighting and glare control have been proven to increases productivity.

EMPLOYEE PERKS

Well-being includes spaces to decompress. The introduction of wellness rooms offers a single occupant the opportunity to take a few minutes alone, a private phone call, or utilize the space as a mother’s room. This type of area tells employees they are valued and trusted to take small breaks to refuel and recharge.

ACCESS TO NATURE

Where possible, the workspace celebrates outdoor areas like a courtyard, balcony, or other similar space. Outdoor views are also an important feature to connect employees with natural lighting throughout the day.

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CLIENT ENGAGEMENT

Culture is intangible and hard to measure yet instantly sensed when you walk into a space. Clients are often escorted through the open Baird workspace. Promoting the brand throughout the workplace, purposefully and authentically, involves infusing brand values into the workplace design through color usage, art, branded signage, and other design features.

PERSONALIZATION

The Baird office conveys the brand from the moment someone entered the space, allowing visitors to easily understand what Baird does and showcase employee pride. Employees are encouraged to personalize their work environment and display their individuality and creativity. Awards and magazine features are prominently hung within the workspace to celebrate the culture of Baird and the branch office’s uniqueness.

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ENTRANCE SECURITY

Baird offices have many layers of security, incorporating card reader access, a clear check-in point for clients, hidden door lock buttons, and additional security features in high-rise office branches and where necessary. The use of glass in lobby spaces and high-risk areas improves visibility and helps with monitoring people within the space.

TRANSPARENCY

Worker safety is top of mind in today’s workplace. Added glass throughout the interior offices, conference rooms, and collaboration spaces provide an increased level of safety and security in a very subtle way within the workplace.

ACOUSTICS + COMFORT

Due to the confidential nature of the client’s business, acoustical solutions address privacy needs with additional soundproofing at private offices and conference rooms. Individual workstations are equipped with sit-to-stand desks which provides visual clues for when employees are engaged in heads down-work. In addition, each room and work zone is thermally balanced to ensure thermal comfort.

Corporate Design Manual

We then developed an extensive 83-page Corporate Design Manual, using a fictional office space, to support these drivers and illustrate implementation across the Baird branch offices. This document is a living manual, updated to reflect observations in the field. For example, if a design element is deemed difficult or expensive for a contractor to execute, or a fixture is outdated, we might modify our detail here. The factors that govern this document are design aesthetics, construction difficulty, and cost per square foot nationally.

Design Development 

For the Dayton, Ohio branch office it was important to tailor the look and feel to the unique culture and place. While the Corporate Office Design Manual provides patterns and typical solutions, rules can be bent to make sure each space feels like a unique office under the Baird umbrella.

As the lead designer for this branch office, I developed custom architectural design elements that played on the standards. I worked with the architectural specialist to incorporate my designs into the space plan and presented them to the client using the SketchUp 3D modeling tool.

Construction Documents

After design approval and sign off, I assisted with construction document creation. I worked with the architect specialist to create custom detail drawings, created elevations of custom millwork pieces, and detailed the finish plan to note locations for all specialty finishes. I assisted with coordination for the consulting engineers to ensure the design integrity was realized in production.

Reflection

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More On Interior Design

I worked as a commercial interior designer for most of my career before moving into UX design. Though the subject matter might not be the same, the design process, at its heart, is.

If you are curious to see more of my interiors work, it can be found here: